The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC ruled (7-4) last week that the law President Donald Trump used to impose sweeping global tariffs — the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) — does not grant him the power to impose those levies, and noted that it is Congress who holds such power.
“The core Congressional power to impose taxes such as tariffs is vested exclusively in the legislative branch by the Constitution,” the court said. “Tariffs are a core Congressional power.”
So when Trump’s former lawyer, Christina Bobb, told Focus Today that the court ruling striking down Trump’s tariffs is wrong because “if the president doesn’t have the authority to make and change tariffs, who does?”, she was slammed on social media for either not knowing or for ignoring the fact that Congress has the authority — “as explicitly spelled out in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.”
(The authority “spelled out in Article 1” was also, notably, emphasized by the court decision, which as quoted above explicitly states that the power is “vested exclusively in the legislative branch.”)
As one critic replied: “Christina Bobb’s statement is not just wrong; it is embarrassing for anyone who claims to be a lawyer.”
Trump attorney Christina Bobb says the court ruling striking down Trump’s tariffs is wrong because “if the president doesn’t have the authority to make and change tariffs, who does?” Um, Congress, as explicitly spelled out in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution? pic.twitter.com/R5cHpRzzQh
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) September 3, 2025
[Note: Bobb, one of the 18 Arizona Republicans and Trump associates who were indicted in April 2024 for their alleged involvement in the Trump fake electors plot to subvert the 2020 presidential election (she pleaded not guilty), is currently promoting her new book, ‘Defiant: Inside the Mar-a-Lago Raid and Left’s Ongoing Lawfare,’ which includes a forward by President Trump.]
Bobb said she didn’t think the court ruling was “honest or accurate” and added: “I believe it will be overturned by the Supreme Court.”
Trump has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the decision on appeal in a filing that quotes Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent making the claim that preventing Trump from using emergency powers granted by IEEPA “gravely undermines the President’s ability to conduct real-world diplomacy and his ability to protect the national security and economy of the United States.”
Neal Katyal, former Principal Deputy Solicitor General in the U.S. Department of Justice during the Obama administration, who argued (and won) the tariffs case, wrote: “The Supreme Court will eventually confront a bigger issue: whether to allow Trump’s IEEPA tariffs to stand as a precedent that transforms the very nature of presidential power. A ruling that does so would not just bend trade law—it would break it, and in the process, unsettle the constitutional balance of powers.”