Steven Calabresi of Northwestern University and Samuel Estreicher of New York University join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the statutory authority for President Trump’s tariffs and whether they violate federal law or the Constitution.
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This episode was produced by Samson Mostashari and Bill Pollock. It was engineered by Bill Pollock. Research was provided by Samson Mostashari and Gyuha Lee.
Participants
Samuel Estreicher is Dwight D. Opperman Professor of Public Law at New York University School of Law. He is also the director of NYU Law’s Center for Labor and Employment Law and its Institute of Judicial Administration. Estreicher is a nationally preeminent scholar in U.S.- and international-comparative labor and employment law and arbitration law.
Steven G. Calabresi is the Clayton J. & Henry R. Barber Professor of Law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. He is the co-founder and co-chairman of the Federalist Society’s Board of Directors. Calabresi worked in the West Wing of President Ronald Reagan’s White House; was a special assistant for Attorney General Edwin Meese III; and clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court and for Judges Robert H. Bork and Ralph K. Winter on the federal courts of appeals. Calabresi is the co-author of The Meese Revolution: The Making of a Constitutional Moment (2024)
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- Samuel Estreicher & Andrew Babbitt, “Are Tariffs an Emergency Power?,” Lawfare Blog (April 3, 2025)
- Steven Calabresi, “President Trump's New Tariffs Are Unconstitutional,” Volokh Conspiracy (April 5, 2025)
- Complaint for Injunctive and Declaratory Relief, Emily Ley Paper v. Trump, 3:25-cv-00464 (N.D. Fla., April 3, 2025)
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