Supreme Court justices question Trump’s authority to impose sweeping tariffs
PBS News Hour - Segments
PBS NewsHour
4.1 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 5 November 2025
⏱️ 6 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | The Trump administration's sweeping tariff plan may be on shaky ground after a Supreme Court |
| 0:05.6 | hearing focused on his authority to impose the measures. |
| 0:09.4 | Several justices on the court questioned the legality of the tariffs and how much power |
| 0:13.6 | the president has to broadly enact his agenda. |
| 0:16.9 | Here's Justice Neil Gorsuch with U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer. |
| 0:26.8 | What would prohibit Congress from just abdicating all responsibility to regulate foreign commerce, |
| 0:29.9 | for that matter, declare war, to the president? |
| 0:31.6 | We don't contend that he could do that. |
| 0:32.8 | Why not? |
| 0:35.3 | Well, because we're dealing with a statute again that has a whole situation. I'm not asking about the statute. |
| 0:36.7 | General, I'm not asking about the statute. |
| 0:38.3 | I'm asking for your theory of the Constitution. |
| 0:41.3 | Meanwhile, attorney Neil Kachall is arguing for small businesses challenging the tariffs, |
| 0:46.3 | said the case was about more than the president's agenda. |
| 0:49.3 | This case is not about the president. |
| 0:51.3 | It's about the presidency. |
| 0:53.3 | It's not about partisanship. It's about the presidency. It's not about partisanship. |
| 0:55.7 | It's about principle. And above all, it's about upholding the majestic separation of powers |
| 1:02.5 | laced into our Constitution that is the foundation for our government. |
| 1:06.9 | The case will have major implications for the global economy and the limits of future |
| 1:12.1 | president's power. For more on this, I'm joined by the NewsHour's Supreme Court analyst. That is Amy Howe of |
| 1:17.8 | SCOTUS blog. Good to see you. Good to see you, too. So before we jump into what happened today, |
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