The Court of International Trade ruled Thursday that President Trump's 10% across-the-board tariffs — imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, a provision never before used — are illegal. Duties will continue collecting while the administration appeals, according to Axios.
The Founders did not build a republic to be governed by emergency workarounds. Article I of the Constitution assigns the power to regulate commerce and levy duties to Congress — not the executive — for exactly this reason: concentrated power answers to no one.
The duty here belongs to Congress. Every year it loans its authority to the executive branch and calls it convenience. Courts enforcing the constitutional order are not the enemy of good trade policy — they are the last check on a legislature too comfortable surrendering the powers it was elected to hold.