Lawrence O’Donnell: It Is ‘No Longer Legal’ at Any Port of Entry in the U.S. to Collect a Single Dollar of Trump Tariffs

EXCERPT:

O’DONNELL: “The court gave the plaintiffs suing the Trump Administration even more than they expected. The plaintiffs include 12 states with Democratic governors who sued, arguing that the Trump tariffs are unconstitutional and illegal, and asked the court for at least a temporary injunction temporarily blocking the tariffs. But the court went all the way and delivered a full and final ruling in the case, granting what the court calls a summary judgment against Donald Trump and all of his tariffs. So, as of this hour tonight, it is no longer legal at any port of entry in the United States for a United States customs service to collect a single dollar of Trump tariffs. Civil lawsuits like this seldom have such total and complete and final victories. Just two weeks after the court heard arguments in the case, victories in this case for plaintiffs at this stage of this kind of litigation are very unusual. But here we are. And as I’ve been reporting to you literally for years now, there are few things more clear in law than Congress’s complete authority over tariffs. The Court of International Trade said in its opinion that even if Congress wanted to give Donald Trump power over tariffs, it would be unconstitutional to do so.”