The Steady Drip: Trump Appeals to Supreme Court to Uphold Tariffs (Connecting the Dots: John Veroneau, Covington and Burling, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Soros Fund Management (SFM), The U.S. Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor, Belizean Grove & Soros Funding, All Networking)

Trump Appeals to Supreme Court to Uphold Tariffs (Connecting the Dots: John Veroneau, Covington and Burling, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Soros Fund Management (SFM), The U.S. Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor, Belizean Grove & Soros Funding, All Networking)

Newsmax.com

Wednesday, 03 September 2025 07:12 AM EDT

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/trump-supreme-court-tariffs/2025/09/03/id/1224880/

President Donald Trump is set to imminently ask the conservative-majority Supreme Court to validate his broad emergency tariffs after two setbacks at lower courts, but will face tough legal questions as his administration presses ahead with backup plans.

Legal and trade experts said that the Supreme Court's 6-3 majority of Republican-appointed justices may slightly improve Trump's odds of keeping in place his "reciprocal" and fentanyl-related tariffs after a federal appeals court ruled 7-4 last week that they are illegal.

Trump said on Tuesday that his administration would seek as early as Wednesday an expedited ruling by the Supreme Court "because we need an early decision." He warned of "devastation" if the duties he imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) are struck down.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit agreed on Friday with a lower court in finding that IEEPA does not grant the president unlimited authority to impose tariffs and the 1977 statute does not mention the term among regulatory powers it allows in a national emergency.

The ruling marked a rare setback for Trump, who has sought to re-order the global economy in the U.S.'s favor with tariffs by declaring a national emergency over decades of trade deficits. Trump won a string of Supreme Court victories since returning to office, from allowing deportation of migrants to permitting a ban on transgender people in the military.

Top administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, say they expect the Supreme Court to uphold the use of IEEPA to justify tariffs, but will turn to other legal means if needed. The tariffs will remain in place at least through October 14 to allow time for the government to file the Supreme Court appeal.

Trump's Department of Justice has argued that the law allows tariffs under emergency provisions that authorize a president to "regulate" imports or block them completely.

How far that unwritten regulatory authority goes is the biggest challenge for Trump's appeal, and two losses have led some legal scholars to predict that the Court of International Trade's original ruling against the tariffs will ultimately be upheld.

"I have a really hard time believing that the Supreme Court is going to read IEEPA in such a broad way that the President can write and rewrite the tariff code in any way he wishes, on any particular day for any particular reason," said John Veroneau, a former Republican-appointed deputy U.S. Trade Representative and partner at Covington and Burling.

Veroneau said that the case will test the Supreme Court's "major questions doctrine," which holds that if Congress wants to give an executive agency the power to make decisions of "vast economic and political significance," it must do so explicitly.

The doctrine was used against former President Joe Biden in 2023 when the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that he overstepped his authority by moving to cancel up to $400 billion in student loans - an order that the court said had a "staggering" scope of impact.

A key question is whether the court will apply the same standard to Trump's tariffs. Comparing these to the impact of the student loan cancellations, the appeals court said in its decision that "the overall economic impact of the tariffs imposed under the government’s reading of IEEPA is even larger still."

Balancing this will be the Supreme Court's traditional deference to the president on matters of foreign affairs and national emergencies, an issue where the 6-3 conservative majority may come into play. Six of the seven appeals court judges voting against the IEEPA tariffs were appointed by Democratic presidents, but there were crossover votes among both parties' appointees.

"Given the Federal Circuit’s majority opinion and the dissent were quite robust, the Supreme Court will likely address the meat of whether IEEPA allows the administration to impose tariffs," said Ryan Majerus, a former senior Commerce Department official and a partner with King and Spalding.

"That decision, either way, will have significant implications for where the administration's trade policy goes next," Majerus said.

The Trump administration has already been expanding tariff investigations under other legal authorities, including the national security-focused Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 under which a probe into furniture imports has been launched.

Bessent told Reuters that another option could be a provision of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 50% on imports from countries that are found to discriminate against U.S. commerce. The statute, Section 338, has been largely dormant for decades but would allow for quick imposition of tariffs.

If the IEEPA tariffs ultimately are struck down, trade lawyers said that a major headache for the Trump administration will be refunds of paid duties. Majerus said importers can lodge protests at the Customs and Border Protection agency to obtain refunds, but these efforts may end up in litigation.

CBP reported that as of August 25, collections of Trump's tariffs imposed under IEEPA totaled $65.8 billion.

A source familiar with the Trump administration's thinking said that lawyers sifted through the ruling over the Labor Day holiday weekend to gauge possible outcomes and expected a quick appeal to the Supreme Court, with a final decision likely in early 2026.

John Veroneau ’89

https://mainelaw.maine.edu/career-services/alumni-profiles/john-veroneau/

John Veroneau ’89 is co-chair of the International Trade and Finance group at Covington & Burling, LLP in Washington D.C. He served as Deputy U.S. Trade Representative (2007-2009) and previously as USTR’s General Counsel, as Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Clinton Administration, as and as Legislative Director, respectively, for Senators Bill Cohen and Bill Frist.

Connecting the Dots:

John Veroneau was an Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Clinton Administration, Chief of Staff to Senator Susan Collins and is co-chair of the International Trade and Finance group at Covington & Burling, LLP.

William J. Clinton was the president for the William J. Clinton administration and the founder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Senator Susan M. Collins was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), John Veroneau was her Chief of Staff and is a U.S. Senate senator.

Harold H. Koh was a director at the Brookings Institution (think tank), the State Department legal adviser for the Barack Obama administration and a lawyer at Covington & Burling LLP.

Lanny A. Breuer is a partner at Covington & Burling LLP and was the assistant attorney general, criminal division for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Eric H. Holder Jr. was the attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice for the Barack Obama administration, a partner at Covington & Burling LLP and a board member for the American Constitution Society.

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the American Constitution Society.

George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Committee for Economic Development.

Letitia James is the chair for the Committee on Economic Development and the Attorney General of New York.

Stuart E. Eizenstat is a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development and a partner at Covington & Burling LLP.

Philip K. Howard is a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development and a partner at Covington & Burling LLP.

Eugene A. Ludwig is a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development and was a partner at Covington & Burling LLP.

John R. Bolton was an associate at the Washington, D.C. office of Covington & Burling LLP, the national security adviser for the Donald Trump's first Administration and of counsel at Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Binta N. Brown is a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and a director at Human Rights First.

James D. Zirin was a director at the Human Rights First and is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.

Barack Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.

Michelle Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.

Mark A. Angelson was a partner at Sidley Austin LLP and a director at the Human Rights First.

William D. Zabel is the chair for the Human Rights First, was a trustee at the Foundation to Promote Open Society and George Soros’s divorce lawyer.

George Soros William D. Zabel was his divorce lawyer and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Human Rights First and the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Harold H. Koh was a director at Human Rights First, a director at the Brookings Institution (think tank), the State Department legal adviser for the Barack Obama administration and a lawyer at Covington & Burling LLP.

Senator Susan M. Collins was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), John Veroneau was her Chief of Staff and is a U.S. Senate senator.

John Veroneau was Chief of Staff to Senator Susan Collins, an Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Clinton Administration and is co-chair of the International Trade and Finance group at Covington & Burling, LLP.

Stuart E. Eizenstat is a senior counsel at Covington & Burling LLP and was a U.S. ambassador for the European Union (EU).

Jean De Ruyt is a senior public policy adviser for Covington & Burling LLP and was a representative of Belgium for the European Union (EU).

Wim van Velzen is the senior European policy adviser for Covington & Burling LLP and was a member of the European Parliament.

European Parliament is the elected parliamentary institution for the European Union (EU).

European Council is the council of heads of state for the European Union (EU).

Javier Solana was a high representative for common foreign & security policy for the European Union (EU), is a board member for the International Crisis Group, a director at the Human Rights Watch and a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).

George Soros is a board member for the International Crisis Group, the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society and a benefactor at the Human Rights Watch.

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Human Rights Watch.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Human Rights Watch and the Aspen Institute (think tank).

Henry A. Kissinger was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank) and a member of the Bohemian Club.

Belizean_Grove is the equivalent to the male-only social group, the Bohemian Club.

Sonia Sotomayor was a member of the Belizean Grove and is a justice for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Henrietta Holsman Fore is a member of the Belizean Grove and a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.

Julie Daum is a member of the Belizean Grove and was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.

Davia B. Temin is a member of the Belizean Grove and was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.

Mary Agnes Wilderotter is a member of the Belizean Grove and a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.