For the most part, the argument goes that the basis for imposing tariffs, the declaration of a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA), is a pointless circle, since it’s the president who gets to decide and declare the existence of an emergency. But the New Civil Liberties Alliance has brought suit against Trump under a different theory, challenging his initial tariffs against China.

The complaint alleges that Trump’s executive orders raising tariffs on Chinese imports exceed the statutory authority of the IEEPA, and that a ruling upholding this assumed authority would violate the nondelegation doctrine, which prohibits Congress from transferring to other branches of government “powers which are strictly and exclusively legislative.” When Congress does delegate its power, it must provide an intelligible principle, i.e., “a legal framework to constrain the authority of the delegee.” The suit argues that the IEEPA contains no such principle vis-à-vis tariffs, which are nowhere mentioned in the statute.

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The day of the announcement of worldwide tariffs, from uninhabited islands to islands with either penguins or army bases, was probably pretty busy in the Oval. After all, there was the stock market crash to consider, the outrage of allies and trading partners, not to mention fielding the calls from Maine’s senators and representatives after cutting off funds and making changes to social security to punish the governor for being a “petulant child” to the mature executive.

And still, the gentlemanly boss made time for a young woman who had been feeling a little left out lately. Continue reading →

Few of us get to have the attorney general put the full force of the federal law enforcement machine behind us personally, crimes usually being more generic and prosecuted (or not) based upon the conduct more than the marque. But our new Attorney General, Pam Barbie Bondi has emphatically stated that crimes against Elon Musk are special.

“I’ve made it clear: If you take part in the wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, we will find you, arrest you, and put you behind bars,” Bondi said.

Crimes against Chevy? Whatevs.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk blasted the attacks as “terrorism” and called them “unequivocally a hate crime” in X posts on Monday.

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Today is supposed to be the day. It’s been pumped. It’s been dumped. It “liberation day,” the day Americans will be liberated from their savings, their income, their food, cars and flat screen TVs. But such cheap goods aren’t part of the American Dream, according to billionaire Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

There will be pain, as renowned economics scholar Tommy Tuberville explains, but Americans will be happy to endure it for the sake of their president’s desires.

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In pretty much any other administration, Signalgate would have been more than enough for heads to roll. Targeting individual law firms for punishment by Executive Order because they represented people and cases that angered the president would have been a huge scandal, as would firing the personnel staffing nuclear weapons only to have to rehire them, if they could be found, as a demonstration of utter incompetence.

Even the most basic elements of administrative incompetence would have been more than enough to launch a dozen congressional inquiries, from why there is no toilet paper in federal office buildings to why staff were required to return to their offices only to find no room and be forced to work from their cars in parking lots. Unless, of course, DOGE came with guys with guns to evict non-executive branch staff from a privately owned building because they had no clue how they fit into the administrative scheme. Continue reading →

Shortly after the Supreme Court decided Citizens United, a friend was near hysterical about its implications for judicial elections. Mind you, I’m no fan of judicial elections, it being the worst of the bad methods of selecting judges. But I really couldn’t get very worked up about the notion that money would be the issue, that huge sums of money would be invested in getting a judge elected because the value of buying a judgeship just wasn’t all that great.

I mean, sure, it might prove better to have judges you preferred over judges you didn’t, but for the most part, judges didn’t wield all that much influence since they were limited by the cases that made it before them and most judges still felt constrained by reason and integrity. But then, I didn’t think about Elon Musk back then. Continue reading →

When Vice President J.D. Vance got off his plane, he was met with a banner that read “Yankee Go Home.” The advance team tried to find a local who supported Vance’s visit, but came up empty. And so the visit came and went with little more than Vance claiming that Denmark has failed to safeguard Greenland, a claim for which there was absolutely no basis. Not that Vance cared.

Vance: “The president said we have to have Greenland, and I think we do have to be more serious about the security of Greenland. We cannot just ignore this place. We cannot just ignore the president’s desires.” pic.twitter.com/kkGRbamsqp

— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) March 28, 2025

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Greetings, loyal denizens of the Simple Justice hotel! It’s your ol’ pal Seaton, back from the wilderness of Knoxville with a confession that’s been gnawing at me like a raccoon on a trash can lid. I don’t give a damn about basketball. Never have. Never will. The sound of sneakers squeaking on hardwood makes my teeth itch, and the only thing I hate more than a jump shot is the guy who thinks “dribbling” is a personality trait.

But here I am, parked on my couch with a Diet Dr. Pepper in one hand and a remote in the other, forcing myself to watch March Madness like some masochistic penance for sins I didn’t commit. Why? Because the Tennessee Vols and Lady Vols are doing well, and apparently, I’m contractually obligated as a Volunteer State resident to care. Continue reading →

It’s unclear whether any of the indiscriminate personnel and projects cuts made by DOGE will end up saving any money, on their own, or end up costing half a trillion due to the inability of the IRS to collect taxes. Claims of vast savings have proven to be false, whether because the Muskrats aren’t very good at math or because they fail to grasp how government works. Then there’s the problem of impounding allocations made by Congress, which mean judges keep enjoining just because it’s unconstitutional.

Of course, there is no savings when money spent by the federal government comes in return for services provided that people want and need. If you decide not to buy a new computer, did you save a grand or did you lose a computer? If you needed that computer, you didn’t save anything. Continue reading →

In a post some might consider slightly snarky, David Post at Volokh Conspiracy refuses to let the next shoe drop without mention. This time, it’s the law firm of Jenner & Block. David prefaces his post with an important note.

Given that the VC is a blog that is heavily focused on the law and the legal profession in all of its various manifestations, I think it is incumbent upon us to at least pay a little bit of attention to the Trump Administration’s continuing attacks on lawyers and judges, if only to ensure that our silence is not construed as capitulation.  So no, I’m not going to let it go – no one’s forcing you to read anything I write. 

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