On April 14, the Liberty Justice Center along with co-counsel, Ilya Somin, law professor at Scalia Law School, George Mason University, filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s authority to unilaterally issue the “Liberation Day” tariffs, which are devastating small businesses across the country. The lawsuit argues that the Administration has no authority to issue across-the-board worldwide tariffs without congressional approval.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade, highlights the unprecedented nature of the tariffs, including a global 10% tariff on nearly all imports, with additional higher tariffs targeting dozens of countries based on dubious calculations of foreign trade barriers.
The President invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify the “Liberation Day” tariffs, as well as the tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China. But under that law, the President may invoke emergency economic powers only after declaring a national emergency in response to an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to national security, foreign policy, or the U.S. economy originating outside of the United States. The lawsuit argues that the Administration’s justification— a trade deficit in goods—is neither an emergency nor an unusual or extraordinary threat. Trade deficits have existed for decades, and do not constitute a national emergency or threat to security. Moreover, the Administration imposed tariffs even on countries with which the U.S. does not have a trade deficit, further undermining the Administration’s justification.
And, as the Liberty Justice Center’s Complaint explains, IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose across-the-board tariffs—it does not even authorize tariffs at all. Even if the IEEPA did attempt to extend such power to the President, that would be an unconstitutional delegation of Congress’s power to impose tariffs.
The case is filed on behalf of five owner-operated businesses who have been severely harmed by the tariffs and highlights the human and economic toll of unchecked executive power: VOS Selections, FishUSA, Genova Pipe, MicroKits LLC, and Terry Precision Cycling.
V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump was filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade on April 14, 2025.
The Liberty Justice Center is standing up to restore the separation of powers and stop this executive overreach.
Jeffrey M. Schwab serves as Senior Counsel and Interim Director of Litigation at the Liberty Justice Center, where he litigates cases to protect the rights to free speech, economic liberty, private property and other Constitutional rights in both federal and state courts across the country.
Reilly Stephens is a Senior Counsel at Liberty Justice Center, where he assists in cases to protect the rights to free speech, economic liberty, private property, and other Constitutional rights in courts across the country.
James McQuaid is a staff attorney at Liberty Justice Center where he assists in cases to protect the rights to free speech, economic liberty, private property, and other Constitutional rights in courts across the country.
Neal Katyal, the former Acting Solicitor General of the United States, is a partner in the Washington, DC office of Milbank LLP and a member of the firm’s Litigation & Arbitration Group.
Michael W. McConnell is Senior Of Counsel in the Palo Alto office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he specializes in federal appellate litigation. From 2002 to 2009, he served as Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, with chambers in Salt Lake City and Denver, where he wrote majority opinions in cases involving securities, antitrust, administrative law, federal lands, First Amendment, criminal law and procedure, and other topics.
Ilya Somin is Professor of Law at George Mason University and the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute. His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, democratic theory, federalism, and migration rights.
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