WASHINGTON D.C. — A group of former government officials and legal scholars have submitted an amicus brief opposing the Trump administration’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs aimed at reducing trade deficits. The brief challenges the administration’s claim that long-standing trade imbalances qualify as a national emergency, arguing that this move represents an unlawful expansion of presidential power.

The brief argues that the IEEPA does not authorize the president to unilaterally impose “reciprocal” tariffs in response to routine trade imbalances. The statute strictly limits presidential power to situations involving an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to national security, foreign policy, or the U.S. economy.

The amici state that Congress intentionally designed the IEEPA to constrain executive authority. By misapplying emergency powers to address normal economic conditions, the administration circumvented legislative oversight and violated the statute’s clear limitations.

The brief was submitted by Steve Jonas, Matthew A. Seligman, and Mark A. Lemley.

Read the brief HERE

The Amici curiae are listed below:

• Donald B. Ayer: Deputy Attorney General in the George H.W. Bush Administration from 1989 to 1990; Principal Deputy Solicitor General in the Reagan Administration from 1986 to 1988; United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California from 1981 to 1986 in the Reagan Administration.

• Tom Campbell: Former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (R-CA) from 1989 to 1993, and 1995 to 2001; Doy and Dee Henley Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence at the Chapman University Fowler School of Law.

• Ty Cobb: Special Counsel to the President in the Trump Administration from 2017 to 2018 and Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland from 1980 to 1986.

• Tom Coleman: Assistant Attorney General of Missouri from 1969 to 1972; Missouri State Representative from 1973 to 1976; Representative of the 6th Congressional District of Missouri from 1976 to 1993 (R).

• Barbara Comstock: Representative of the 10th Congressional District of Virginia from 2015 to 2019 (R).

• George T. Conway III: Board President, Society for the Rule of Law.

• Murray Dickman: Primary Assistant to U.S. Attorney General from 1988 to 1992.

• Mickey Edwards: Representative of the 5th Congressional District of Oklahoma from 1977 to 1993 (R).

• Richard Epstein; Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, New York University.

• John J. Farmer Jr.; New Jersey Attorney General from 1999 to 2002 (R); Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 1990 to 1994.

• John Giraudo: Attorney Advisor in the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel in the Reagan Administration from 1986 to 1989.

• Bob Inglis: Representative of the 4th Congressional District of South Carolina from 1993 to 1999 and from 2005 to 2011 (R).

• Peter Keisler: Acting Attorney General in the George W. Bush Administration in 2007; Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division in the Bush Administration from 2003 to 2007; Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General and Acting Associate Attorney General in the Bush Administration from 2002 to 2003; Assistant and Associate Counsel to the President in the Reagan Administration from 1986 to 1988.

• William Kristol: Chief of Staff to the Vice President in the George H.W. Bush Administration from 1989 to 1993.

• Harold Hongju Koh: Sterling Professor of International Law Yale Law School.

• Philip Lacovara: Counsel to the Special Prosecutor, Watergate Special Prosecutor’s Office in the Nixon Administration from 1973 to 1974.

• Mike Lofgren: Former Republican Congressional Staffer.

• J. Michael Luttig: Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals appointed by George H.W. Bush from 1991 to 2006; Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel and Counselor to the Attorney General in the Bush Administration from 1990 to 1991; Assistant Counsel to the President in the Reagan Administration from 1981 to 1982.

• John McKay: U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington appointed by George W. Bush from 2001 to 2007.

• Mario Nicolais: General Counsel, The Lincoln Project.

• Richard Painter: S. Walter Richey Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Minnesota Law School; former Associate Counsel to the President where he served as the chief White House ethics lawyer.

• Carter Phillips; Assistant to the Solicitor General in the Reagan Administration from 1981 to 1984.

• Trevor Potter: Chairman of the Federal Election Commission and Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission from 1991 to 1995; General Counsel to John McCain’s Presidential Campaign from 2000 to 2008.

• Alan Charles Raul: Associate Counsel to the President in the Reagan Administration from 1986 to 1988.

• Stephen Richer: Maricopa County Recorder from 2021 to 2025 (R).

• Reid Ribble: Representative of the 8th Congressional District of Wisconsin from 2015 to 2017 (R).

• Paul Rosenzweig: Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Department of Homeland Security in the George W. Bush Administration from 2005 to 2009.

• Nicholas Rostow: Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council under Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations from 1987 to 1993; Special Assistant to the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State from 1985 to 1987; Senior Research Scholar at Yale Law School.

• Claudine Schneider: Representative of the 2nd Congressional District of Rhode Island from 1981 to 1991 (R).

• Robert Shanks: Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel in the Reagan Administration from 1981 to 1984.

• Stanley A. Twardy, Jr.: United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut from 1985 to 1991 and Chief of Staff to Connecticut Governor Lowell P. Weicker, Jr from 1991 to 1993.

• Christopher Shays: Representative for the 4th Congressional District of Connecticut from 1987 to 2009 (R).

• Fern M. Smith: Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California appointed by President Reagan from 1988 to 2005.

• Alan O. Sykes: Professor of Law and Warren Christopher Professor in the Practice of International Law and Diplomacy, Stanford Law School.

• William Joseph Walsh: Representative of the 8th Congressional District of Illinois from 2011 to 2013 (R).

• William F. Weld: Governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997 (R) and United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division from 1986 to 1988.

• Christine Todd Whitman: Governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001 (R); Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the George W. Bush Administration, 2001-2003.

• Wendell Willkie, II: Associate Counsel to the President from 1984 to 1985; Acting Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce from 1992 to 1993; General Counsel, U.S. Department of Commerce from 1989 to 1993; General Counsel, U.S. Department of Education, from 1985 to 1988.

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