Trump's tariffs could face long odds before Supreme Court he reshaped

Washington — Legal challenges to President Trump's tariffs could put the president on a collision course with a Supreme Court that he shaped, as his use of emergency power to unilaterally impose the levies could run into legal doctrines championed by the conservative justices to limit executive authority.

Several things have to happen before the Supreme Court would consider the legality of Mr. Trump's tariffs: the losing party in a lawsuit challenging his tariffs would have to appeal all the way up to the high court, and at least four justices would then have to agree to review the lower court's decision. The high court would then have to decide the case on the merits, rather than a procedural issue.

But if that were to occur, the president could face skepticism from its six-member conservative wing — which includes three justices he appointed —  as the cases raise doctrines that have been embraced by the conservative legal movement and invoked by the justices themselves in other cases: the major questions doctrine and nondelegation doctrine.