CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATIONS

The International Emergency Economic Powers Enhancement Act (the “IEEPA”) ostensibly authorizes the President of the United States to “regulate” the “importation” of goods from foreign countries. See 50 U.S.C. § 1702(a)(1)(B). Under the IEEPA, the President may issue “regulations” governing the importation of goods whenever he or she declares that a “national emergency,” emanating from outside the United States, exists. See 50 U.S.C. § 1701. President Trump has invoked the IEEPA to impose tariffs, i.e., taxes, on imported goods that arrive from China, Mexico or Canada. See the President’s Executive Orders Nos. 14193, 14194, and 14195.

Section 1702(a)(1)(B) of the IEEPA, as so applied by President Trump, is patently unconstitutional and should be declared “void” by America’s federal courts. Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution empowers the Congress, not the President, to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises . . . .” See U.S. Const., Art. I, § 8, first clause. The President’s powers, bestowed by Article II, do not include any power to “lay” taxes. Se U.S. Const., Art. II, §§ 1-3.

It could be argued, as it has been argued in the past, that the Necessary and Proper Clause of Article I, Section 8 (i.e., the last clause of that section) authorizes Congress to delegate its powers to the President, and to other officials working under him or her in the executive branch of the federal government. To be sure, that Clause does authorize Congress “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers . . . .” See U.S. Const., Art. I, § 8, last clause. The United States Supreme Court has consistently interpreted the words “necessary” and “proper” in that Clause to mean the following:

Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adopted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist (sic) with the letter and spirit of the constitution, are constitutional.

McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. Reports 316, 421 (1819).

Section 1702(a)(1)(B) of President Trump’s version of the IEEPA does not meet the “Necessary and Proper” test as the Supreme Court has defined it. Giving the President an unlimited power to impose taxes of his or her own design is plainly not consistent with “the letter and spirit of the constitution.” The Constitution bestows the power to impose federal taxes, solely on Congress, a politically sensitive body subject to election or re-election by “the People of the several States,” every two years. See U.S. Const., Art. I, § 2, first clause. The plainly spoken letter and spirit of the Constitution, construed in its entirety, strives to carry forward the revolutionary idea of government with “the Consent of the Governed.” See the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. In that well-documented, historical light, Section 1702(a)(1)(B) of the IEEPA, as applied by President Trump, is clearly “repugnant” to the Constitution of the United States. The statute should therefore be declared “void” by conscientious federal courts across the nation. See Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. Reports 137, 180 (1803).