r/politics • u/Mason_Miami • 1d ago

Conservative group claims Trump's tariffs illegally usurp powers of Congress

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/this-unlawful-impost-must-fall-conservative-group-sues-trump-claiming-tariffs-are-unconstitutional-exercise-of-legislative-power/
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u/GaimeGuy Minnesota 1d ago edited 1d ago

I really don't see how any common sense interpretation of these tariffs can conclude they are in response to an emergency. The government has been quite clear that it is simply imposing them because it wants to, shifting from talks of cartels, to fentanyl, to "ripping us off blah blah blah" to "Nothing can be done to change my mind." on a day to day basis.

There's no policy objective, so what's the emergency? And emergency tariffs are the only ones that are supposed to be permitted, like when a nation tries to undercut a market on seasonal goods to critically wound its domestic supply - this is generally the purview of ministries in parliamentary bodies, so it makes sense to vest the authority in the executive branch to respond in kind, in those instances

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u/schwanzweissfoto 1d ago edited 1d ago

Ignoring laws and conjuring justifications from thin air is nazi shit. It was proven to work in Germany in the 1930s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_exception

A state of exception (German: Ausnahmezustand) is a concept introduced in the 1920s by the German philosopher, jurist and Nazi Party member Carl Schmitt, similar to a state of emergency (martial law) but based in the sovereign's ability to transcend the rule of law […] he defined political sovereignty as, essentially, the ability to ignore the law […]

Edit: How to deal with such a thing? “As always: Kill Hitler!” – Colonel Chestbridge (Danger 5)

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u/tehMarzipanEmperor 1d ago

There's a long history of political assassinations. Typically, when the assassin is successful, the outcome is very volatile, tending towards the opposite of what the assassin hoped to accomplish.

It's not done because it doesn't work.

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u/newtbob 20h ago

Good point. A different but similar parallel could be drawn with Iran and the takedown of Saddam Hussein.