A legal argument that the U.S. Supreme Court used to foil Joe Biden on climate change and student debt now looms as a threat to President Donald Trump¡¯s sweeping tariffs.
During Biden¡¯s presidency, the court¡¯s conservative majority ruled that federal agencies can¡¯t decide sweeping political and economic matters without clear congressional authorization. That blocked the Environmental Protection Agency from setting deep limits on power-plant pollution and the Education Department from slashing student loans for 40 million people.
The concept ¡ª known as the ¡°major questions doctrine¡± ¡ª is now playing a central role in the case against Trump¡¯s unilateral imposition of worldwide import taxes. With Supreme Court review all but inevitable, the justices¡¯ willingness to employ the doctrine against Trump may determine the fate of his signature economic initiative.
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