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Law360 Article “Fed. Circ. Keeps Trump Tariffs In Place, Fast-Tracks Appeal” Quotes Amicus Brief Author Fred Norton
On June 9, 2025, Norton Law filed an amicus brief on behalf of 33 U.S. Senators in the Federal Circuit, opposing the Administration’s emergency motion to revive sweeping, unlawful tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
The brief urges the Federal Circuit to deny a stay and protect the Constitution’s balance of powers and posits that continuing to collect the tariffs during the Administration’s appeal would harm small businesses, violate separation of powers, and damage alliances abroad. Further, the brief examines the Administration’s other legal options available through established tariff authorities that Congress has already provided.
Law360 spoke with Fred Norton, counsel for the senators, who said that the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the authority to impose tariffs, and the president only has authority to do so when Congress has made a clear delegation. “IEEPA is just not that kind of a statute,” he said. “It’s an emergency-power statute that, until this administration, no one had ever interpreted to allow for the administration to impose tariffs.”
Read the full article “Fed. Circ. Keeps Trump Tariffs In Place, Fast-Tracks Appeal” here and the Amicus Brief here; a subscription may be required.
The cases are V.O.S. Selections Inc. et al. v. U.S. et al., case number 25-1812, and State of Oregon et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al., case number 25-1813, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The co-authors of the brief include Fred Norton, Nathan Walker, Josephine Petrick, Celine Purcell, Emily Kirk, and Rebecca Kutlow, alongside Georgetown University Law Center’s Jennifer Hillman (Co-Director of Institute of International Economic Law) and Peter Harrell of Peter Harrell LLC. Norton Law paralegals Trevor White, Diana Abad, and Jenna Garza contributed.