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Simplified, et al. v. Trump, et al.

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CASE: Simplified, et al. v. President Donald J. Trump, et al.

STATUS: Active

NCLA ROLE: Counsel

COURTS HEARD IN: N.D. Fla., CIT

ORIGINAL COURT: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida

DECIDING COURT: U.S. Court of International Trade

OPENED: April 3, 2025

AGENCIES: Department of Homeland Security | U.S. Customs and Border Protection

FOCUS AREAS:

Judicial Deference

Deference doctrines require judges to defer to an administrative agency’s fact finding, or its interpretation of statutes and regulations. Thus, judges surrender their independent judgment and, where the government is a party, must exhibit systematic bias in the government’s favor, which denies due process of law to the other litigant.

Scope of Authority / Nondelegation

The structure of the Constitution allows only Congress to legislate, only the Executive to enforce laws, and only the Judiciary to decide cases. But the Administrative State evades the Constitution’s avenues of governance when executive agencies issue regulations without statutory authorization from Congress.

CASE SUMMARY

Representing  Simplified, a Pensacola-based company owned by entrepreneur Emily Ley, and several other Florida companies, NCLA challenges President Trump’s attempt to rely on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs on imports from all U.S. trading partners. This statute authorizes specific emergency actions like imposing sanctions or freezing assets to protect the United States from foreign threats. It does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. In its nearly 50-year history, no other president—including President Trump in his first term—has ever tried to use the IEEPA to impose tariffs. This lawsuit does not contest President Trump’s declaration of opioid and trade deficit-related emergencies, but it does take issue with his decision to impose tariffs in response, without legal authority to do so.

The tariffs are harmful to Simplified, a company that improves women’s lives by selling premium planners and other home management products, and NCLA’s other clients in this case. Simplified’s business depends on importing materials from China, and it already has paid substantial tariffs to purchase goods from China that are not available here. The “emergency” tariff on goods from China will force it to make higher tariff payments, driving up its costs and thus prices for its customers, and reducing its profits.

Under art. 1, § 8 of the Constitution, Congress has sole authority to control tariffs, which it has done by passing detailed tariff statutes. The President cannot bypass those statutes by invoking “emergency” authority in another statute that does not mention tariffs. His attempt to use the IEEPA this way not only violates the law as written, but it also invites application of the Supreme Court’s Major Questions Doctrine, which tells courts not to discern policies of “vast economic and political significance” in a law without explicit congressional authorization. If the IEEPA were held to permit these tariff actions, then the statute would run afoul of the nondelegation doctrine because it lacks an “intelligible principle” to limit or guide the president’s discretion in imposing tariffs.

OUR CLIENT

Emily Ley, CEO, Simplified

OUR TEAM

Andrew Morris
Senior Litigation Counsel
John J. Vecchione
Senior Litigation Counsel
Mark Chenoweth
President and Chief Legal Officer
Zhonette Brown
General Counsel and Senior Litigation Counsel

RELEVANT MATERIALS

NCLA FILINGS

Order Denying Stay

May 21, 2025 | Read More

Plaintiffs' Emergency Motion for One-Day Administrative Stay of Order Transferring Case

May 21, 2025 | Read More

Order Transferring Case

May 20, 2025 | Read More

Memorandum of Amicus Curiae the Cato Institute in Support of Plaintiffs

May 13, 2025 | Read More

Brief of Amicus Curiae the Brennan Center for Justice in Support of Plaintiffs

May 12, 2025 | Read More

SEE 11 FILINGS
PRESS RELEASES

NCLA Opposes Transfer of Expanded Lawsuit Against Trump Administration’s Unlawful Tariffs

May 5, 2025 | Read More

NCLA Sues to Stop Trump Admin. from Imposing Emergency Tariffs That Congress Never Authorized

April 3, 2025 | Read More

IN THE MEDIA

Trump’s tariffs are unconstitutional — we’re suing to end them

April 15, 2025

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