^^^ Musk can't dance!

A Correct Decision
Erick-Woods Erickson
May 29

The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that President Trump had exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a 1977 law, to impose tariffs on other nations. The decision was unanimous. One of the judges had been appointed by Donald Trump in his first term. Another is a Reagan appointee.

The power to raise taxes resides with Congress under Article 1 of the Constitution. Congress passed the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to deal with limited situations and countries, giving the President the power to impose limited tariffs in emergencies. Neither the text of the law nor the intent of the law ever contemplated giving the President unilateral power to raise or lower tariffs broadly.

If you’re a regular reader or listener, you know I predicted back on “Liberation Day” that this was the likely outcome.

It is also the best outcome. “The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariffs lack any identifiable limits and thus fall outside the scope of [the International Emergency Economic Powers Act],” the Court wrote, noting the legislation requires limits on tariffs

Ironically, the trade court relied on a case from the seventies that upheld tariffs imposed by President Nixon. In that case, the court noted, “President Nixon ‘imposed a limited surcharge, as a temporary measure calculated to help meet a particular national emergency, which is quite different from imposing whatever tariff rates he deems desirable.’”

The court, citing the same Nixon era case, reiterated, that “a finding that the President has the power … to impose whatever tariff rates he deems desirable simply by declaring a national emergency would not only render our trade agreements program nugatory, it would subvert the manifest Congressional intent to maintain control over its Constitutional powers to levy tariffs.”

We should not want a President to have the power to impose, at will, tariffs on every nation on his whim. The President is not a dictator. We have a separation of powers. The founders gave Congress the power to raise taxes. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution outlines the limited powers of the federal Congress. The very first clause states, “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.” A tariff is a duty and that power resides with Congress.

Had the President done as I and others suggested and used the tariffs to target China, he’d have probably won the case. But starting a global trade war with both our rivals and allies was a stupid move.

The decision is, however, limited. The President does have broad powers delegated by Congress to impose tariffs on categories of goods. Steel, aluminum, pharmaceuticals, and tariffs on other categories of goods can remain based on other laws. But the reciprocal tariffs that broadly impact every country now have a ten-day wind-down.

The Trump Administration is going to appeal, of course.

Trump supporters will, of course, scream that this is judicial overreach and activists judges. A Reagan and a Trump appointed judge are not exactly candidates for judicial activism. They are not, contrary to some, trying to subvert a position that is political. The President attempted to use a law of Congress that delegated limited tariff powers to the President. The courts do play a role in interpreting the limits.

Unfortunately, President Trump, unrestrained by the idea of another election, has decided to operate with the economic policies of Bernie Sanders and the left. Barack Obama and the Democrats picked winners and losers. Many of the same people who then blasted Obama over Solyndra are now cheering on President Trump for threatening Apple with tariffs if they do not do his bidding. While the right has embraced post-modernism like the left, the law and the separation powers still matter.

Raising taxes on Americans is a matter for the Congress. The federal court is right in this instance. The activist was not the court, but the President. Contrary to the claims of hysterics on the left and right, the system continues to work with checks and balances.

Lastly, I have to tip my hat to my friend Casey Mattox, for making this point:


https://x.com/CaseyMattox_/sta...ack&utm_medium=email

“The conservative and libertarian legal movement has both celebrated positive things the Trump administration has done and also directly opposed him - successfully - when he has exceeded his constitutional authority. The same was not true of the left during the Biden Admin.”


https://ewerickson.substack.co...rue&utm_medium=email

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
nugatory

Learn something new every day! I'll have to slip that one into a casual conversation soon.

Regarding the article, I think the court is probably right here. Unfortunately, trying to get Congress to do anything with regard to tariffs, let alone anything productive will be next to impossible.

quote:

Regarding the article, I think the court is probably right here. Unfortunately, trying to get Congress to do anything with regard to tariffs, let alone anything productive will be next to impossible.

Yep, I too think the court is right here. But I don't blame Trump for trying this path. He got the ball rolling. To get his tariffs he will have to get Congress to ratify them. He should have his staff draft the legislation and he should present it to Congress himself.

Do we owe countries that Obama, Trump, and Biden levied tariffs on their money back?

Given that all these countries have been charging us a tariff all these years count for anything? Granted the President has upped the ante.

quote:

Yep, I too think the court is right here. But I don't blame Trump for trying this path. He got the ball rolling. To get his tariffs he will have to get Congress to ratify them. He should have his staff draft the legislation and he should present it to Congress himself.

Agreed, most of the legal troubles he has is for pushing the limits of what the EO can do, can't blame him, getting anything passed with congress is almost impossible.

Maybe he'll use all the lawfare and interference as a good mid term election plan to get more R in the House and Senate. And to get rid of a few problem R.

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
Do we owe countries that Obama, Trump, and Biden levied tariffs on their money back?

No, because those tariffs are not part of this ruling. The sec 301 & 232 tariffs still stand. So Trumps 1st term tariffs 7.5 to 25% are still there, as well as the 232 auto tariffs and steel/aluminum items still stand.

Only the IEEPA tariffs arbitrary 10% on all countries and the fentanyl tariffs are blocked.

And unless it was a foreign owned company actually importing the goods into the US, the tariffs are paid by the American owned company that brings in the goods. So, that company will be responsible for “clawing back” that tariff payment from US Customs. and only if that claw back provision is allowed by the .gov.

In my experience .gov does not give money back. Only time they like to retro active anything is usually in a prohibition type of enforcement. Take, good! Give, bad!

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...ryo8ZOf%2BQ279jMU%3D

Trump’s Tariffs Temporarily Reinstated by Appeals Court, Reversing Lower Court Order

The ruling is a reversal of a lower court order a day earlier.

A federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily paused a lower-court ruling that struck down President Donald Trump’s tariffs on a wide range of countries.
In its decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted the government’s request for an immediate administrative stay of the U.S. Court of International Trade, saying it is “temporarily stayed until further notice while this court considers the motions papers.”

On Wednesday, the trade court ruled that Trump had exceeded his authority by issuing sweeping tariffs under an emergency-powers law, siding with plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the administration.

“The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs,” Wednesday’s court decision stated, making reference to the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

“Had the President done as I and others suggested and used the tariffs to target China, he’d have probably won the case.”

Hopefully that approach is still viable. It would be a big win.

Anti-Trump Defense IT Specialist Arrested For Attempting to Provide Classified Information to Foreign Government Because He Did Not “Agree or Align with the Values of This Administration”

https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/...ified-information%2F



Per the Justice Department:

An IT specialist employed by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was arrested today for attempting to transmit national defense information to an officer or agent of a foreign government.

Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia, was arrested today in northern Virginia, and will make his initial court appearance in the Eastern District of Virginia tomorrow.

According to court documents, Laatsch became a civilian employee of the DIA in 2019, where he works with the Insider Threat Division and holds a Top Secret security clearance. In March 2025, the FBI commenced an operation after receiving a tip that an individual — now known to be Laatsch — offered to provide classified information to a friendly foreign government. In that email, the sender wrote that he did not “agree or align with the values of this administration” and was therefore “willing to share classified information” that he had access to, including “completed intelligence products, some unprocessed intelligence, and other assorted classified documentation.”

After multiple communications with an FBI agent — who Laatsch allegedly believed to be an official of the foreign government — Laatsch began transcribing classified information to a notepad at his desk and, over the course of approximately three days, repeatedly exfiltrated the information from his workspace. Laatsch subsequently confirmed to the FBI agent that he was prepared to transmit the information.

Thereafter, the FBI implemented an operation at a public park in northern Virginia, where Laatsch believed he would deposit the classified information for the foreign government to retrieve. On or about May 1, 2025, FBI surveillance observed Laatsch proceed to the specified location and deposit an item. Following Laatsch’s departure, the FBI retrieved the item, which was a thumb drive later found to contain a message from Laatsch and multiple typed documents, each containing information that was portion-marked up to the Secret or Top Secret levels. The message from Laatsch indicated that he had chosen to include “a decent sample size” of classified information to “decently demonstrate the range of types of products” to which he had access.

After receiving confirmation that the thumb drive had been received, on May 7, Laatsch allegedly sent a message to the FBI agent, which indicated Laatsch was seeking something from the foreign government in return for continuing to provide classified information. The next day, Laatsch specified that he was interested in “citizenship for your country” because he did not “expect[] things here to improve in the long term.” Although he said he was “not opposed to other compensation,” he was not in a position where he needed to seek “material compensation.”

On May 14, the FBI agent advised Laatsch that it was prepared to receive additional classified information. Between May 15 and May 27, Laatsch again repeatedly transcribed multiple pages of notes while logged into his classified workstation, folded the notes, and exfiltrated the classified information in his clothing.

On May 29, Laatsch arrived at a prearranged location in northern Virginia, where Laatsch again allegedly attempted to transmit multiple classified documents to the foreign country. Laatsch was arrested upon the FBI’s receipt of the documents.

Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Erik S. Siebert for the Eastern District of Virginia, Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division, and Executive Director Lee M. Russ of Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) Office of Special Projects made the announcement.

The FBI Washington Field Office is investigating the case, with valuable assistance provided by the U.S. Air Force OSI and with thanks to the Defense Intelligence Agency for its cooperation.

Trial Attorneys Christina Clark and Mark Murphy of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg for the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Updated May 29, 2025

https://x.com/TheNewsTrending/...ified-information%2F

Wow, TDS is a real thing.

Need to make the most severe example as possible out of this guy as fast as possible.

These are the types of idiots our universities are churning out.
I wonder how long it will take for him to figure out he just tossed his whole life down the drain.

That’s a face I want to see staring out from a gibbet.

Do we still execute people for treason ?

Probably not but we should start.

It might free up a lot of bed space for what is to come.

I wonder who the "Friendly Nation" he thought he was communicating with was.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
A Correct Decision
Erick-Woods Erickson

Wow, never saw that one coming

Trump-hater Erick Erickson thinks something that huts the Trump agenda is a "correct decision"?

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

An IT specialist employed by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was arrested today for attempting to transmit national defense information to an officer or agent of a foreign government.

Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia, was arrested today in northern Virginia, and will make his initial court appearance in the Eastern District of Virginia tomorrow.

According to court documents, Laatsch became a civilian employee of the DIA in 2019, where he works with the Insider Threat Division

Wow, the guy in the department that exists to stop this kind of thing gets caught doing the very thing he was supposed to be stopping? Holy crap