1. United States
2. Letter

I write as a concerned citizen and observer of constitutional governance to respectfully submit my views on the critical constitutional issues presented by the case concerning former and current President Donald Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose broad global tariffs. This case presents a fundamental question about the proper separation of powers under the Constitution: the distinct and exclusive authority vested in Congress, not the President, to lay and collect taxes and tariffs. Article I, Section 8 explicitly grants Congress the power “to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises.” This legislative control over national revenue and trade policies safeguards democratic accountability and prevents unilateral executive overreach. While the IEEPA empowers the President to address extraordinary foreign threats via economic sanctions, it was never intended to authorize sweeping peacetime tariff regimes that effectively restructure global trade and raise revenue unilaterally. To hold otherwise risks converting emergency powers into a permanent tool of governance, undermining the constitutional system of checks and balances. The Supreme Court’s precedent consistently affirms these limits on executive power in legislative domains. In Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952), the Court underscored that presidential power must stem from either Congress or the Constitution itself, invalidating President Truman’s attempt to seize steel mills during wartime. Similarly, Clinton v. City of New York (1998) struck down the line-item veto as an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to the President. Allowing the tariffs imposed under IEEPA to stand would mark a profound departure from these principles, effectively granting the executive branch power to impose taxes by proclamation—an authority reserved to Congress alone. Such a shift threatens the constitutional balance that has protected our Republic for over two centuries. The Court is the final guardian of this constitutional order. I urge the Justices to honor their oath to uphold the Constitution by reaffirming Congress’s exclusive power over taxation and revenue and preserving the essential separation of powers that protects our democracy.