Earlier this year, President Donald Trump imposed an array of sweeping new tariffs in a move he referred to as "Liberation Day."

However, this week saw a court move to block those tariffs on the grounds that the president had exceeded his authority. 

Case concerns the degree of power granted by a 1977 law

According to Breitbart, that ruling was handed down on Wednesday by a three-judge panel at the New York-based Court of International Trade.

At issue is the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a piece of legislation which was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.

The IEEPA empowers a president to regulate commerce between the United States and foreign nations after he or she has declared a state of emergency.

Yet the three-judge panel wrote in their ruling that Trump's "Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs."

Plaintiff says Trump's emergency claim is "a figment of his own imagination"

The decision came in response to lawsuits filed by multiple plaintiffs who maintain that the IEEPA does not convey the right to impose tariffs. They further argue that the law's use must be triggered by an "unusual and extraordinary threat."

One of those plaintiffs is the nonprofit organization Liberty Justice Center. Jeffrey Schwab serves as its director of litigation, and he told the Associated Press last month that the IEEPA "doesn't say the word tariff."

"That statute doesn’t actually say anything about giving the president the power to tariff," the legal activist pointed out.

The Associated Press noted that Liberty Justice Center's complaint dismissed Trump's emergency claim as simply being "a figment of his own imagination."

The organization went on to assert that "trade deficits, which have persisted for decades without causing economic harm, are not an emergency."

Oregon attorney general welcomes ruling

Breitbart reported that Trump's tariffs are also facing a challenge from the state of Oregon, and Wednesday's ruling was welcomed by its attorney general.

From @WIRED: “Oregon attorney general Dan Rayfield, who is leading one of the key lawsuits against Trump’s illegal tariffs, says that if he wins, the federal government must give back ‘every cent of the illegal tariffs collected.’” https://t.co/sg7vulmtmQ

— Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield (@ORDOJ) May 28, 2025

"This ruling reaffirms that our laws matter, and that trade decisions can’t be made on the president’s whim,” Attorney General Dan Rayfield was quoted as saying.