Source: Washington Post
by George F Will
“After the preamble, the Constitution’s first word is ‘all’: ‘All legislative Powers’ are vested in Congress. And the power to tax is listed first among Congress’s enumerated powers. Because the Constitution vests in Congress the power to ‘lay and collect’ duties and imposts, presidential authority to impose them must derive from a statute. Trump relies on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. But it nowhere includes the term ‘tariff’ or any of its synonyms, and no previous president has claimed that it authorizes tariffs. … Today’s president is a hare, darting here and there. The judiciary is generally a tortoise, slow because it is deliberative. But you know the fable.” (07/25/25)