Oregon’s top legal officer said he expects the legal battle over President Donald Trump’s tariffs will end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield traveled to Washington, D.C., for a court hearing on Thursday before an 11-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit about whether Trump is misusing his authority to impose tariffs.
“I expect that both sides, no matter the outcome, will appeal this to the Supreme Court,” he told reporters in a video conference Thursday afternoon.
Rayfield and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, who filed the suit in April, are leading the case alongside 10 Democratic other states. The lawsuit lists Trump, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its leader, Kristi Noem, and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and its leader, Peter Flores, as defendants.
The states argue Trump is misusing emergency powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose widescale tariffs. Implemented in 1977, the law gives the president the authority to regulate a variety of economic transactions during a state of national emergency.
For example, Rayfield said, Trump on Wednesday issued an executive order declaring a national emergency against Brazil and imposed a 50% tariff on the country. The executive order claims the government of Brazil is interfering with U.S. companies, infringing on free expression rights and wrongfully persecuting former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro — who faces a trial for his role in trying to overturn the results of his country’s 2022 election.
And on Friday, Trump is expected to impose higher reciprocal tariffs on goods from nearly 200 countries.
In a social media update following the hearing, Oregon Solicitor General Benjamin Gutman — who argued on behalf of the states in court — said he found the court to be “very engaged.”
“(There were) a lot of questions for both sides,” Gutman said. “The questions really reflected that the judges were prepared and had thought about the issues and frankly had a lot of skepticism of some of the arguments the federal government was making.”
‘We’re at a very different time’: Oregon AG says about Trump administration
Oregon is involved in 35 lawsuits against the Trump administration — an increase from Trump’s first presidency, Rayfield told reporters.
“There were only three or four lawsuits at that time,” Rayfield said. “The Trump administration is pushing the bounds of our Constitution and attacking existing federal law that has been well understood for decades, so we’re at a very different time in our country.”
Oregon has taken legal action against the Trump administration’s attempts to block federal funding for Planned Parenthood, share of Oregon residents’ Medicaid records with federal immigration enforcement officials and demand that states turn over personal data about residents receiving food assistance.
Rayfield said he expects the court to make a decision on the tariff case in the coming weeks or months. Other states joining the lawsuit include Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Vermont.
