Today, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6–3 decision, struck down most of President Trump’s recent “global” tariffs, holding that he exceeded his statutory authority by using emergency powers to impose them.
Inweekly reached out to Emily Ley, founder of Simplified. On April 1, the 42-year-old Pensacola business owner emerged as the face of the anti-tariff movement when she filed the first civil complaint against President Donald Trump and his administration. Read Taking on Trump.
“I’m having a good old day,” Ley said. “This morning, I actually forgot the ruling was coming out today and then I got a text from a friend with the news being shared, and I was thrilled.
“Our case is in the Court of International Trade,” Ley said. “These two cases made it to the Supreme Court before us and ours was stayed under the assumption that the Supreme Court ruling would determine it. Ours is not closed yet. We will 99.9% be found the winner. I’m thrilled, relieved and really proud to have been part of something like that.”
“I’m really interested to see what will probably be decided at the Supreme Court about refunds,” Ley said. The ruling didn’t say anything about refunds. We’ll wait for the Supreme Court to decide. My attorneys told me there’s nothing stopping refunds. Of course, they’re not going to do that until their hands have been forced.” Ley continued, “We’re pulling invoices and getting all the details of what we have paid since February of last year. We’re in the process of figuring that out. We’ll definitely seek a refund.”
Ley has paid $1.2 million in tariffs since 2018, but the initial tariffs during Trump’s first presidency were legal.
- “I’m just over here trying to run a business and keep eight women employed, and suddenly I’m drinking from a legal firehose,” Ley said.
