The lawyer who successfully argued at the Supreme Court against Donald Trump’s signature policy, leading to a massive blowup aimed at certain Justices, used the administration’s own argument against the president’s new plan to circumvent the legal smackdown.
Neal Katyal argued against Trump’s tariffs before the nation’s highest court, which rejected the Trump policy plank in a devastating blow after hearing arguments several months ago. Trump then imposed a new plan: namely, that he would raise global tariffs to 15% using a law never invoked by a president before, according to reports.
But there’s a problem with that plan, according to Katyal. For starters, according to the attorney, it flies in the face of a previous argument Trump’s administration made in court.
“Seems hard for the President to rely on the 15 percent statute (sec 122) when his DOJ in our case told the Court the opposite: ‘Nor does [122] have any obvious application here, where the concerns the President identified in declaring an emergency arise from trade deficits, which are conceptually distinct from balance-of-payments deficits,’” Katyal wrote on Saturday.
He then added, “If he wants sweeping tariffs, he should do the American thing and go to Congress. If his tariffs are such a good idea, he should have no problem persuading Congress. That’s what our Constitution requires.”
Ex-GOP lawmaker Barbara Comstock flagged the development, writing, “Whoops – Katyal reminds Team Trump of their own arguments…”
“Trump not having good lawyers or no lawyers or ignoring lawyers is always a problem for Trump,” she added.
Whoops – @neal_katyal reminds Team Trump of their own arguments… Trump not having good lawyers or no lawyers or ignoring lawyers is always a problem for Trump. https://t.co/SDm2i3YgPP — Barbara Comstock (@BarbaraComstock) February 21, 2026
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