Ilya Somin
Role at the time: Law professor and co-author of an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs, responding to Dispute Index by email
Statement summary
In an October 1 response to Dispute Index, Professor Ilya Somin said the Federal Circuit's HMTX decision supports the challengers' position. He pointed to his joint brief with the Cato Institute and Professor Michael McConnell. On printed page 12, the brief distinguishes HMTX's modification of existing China tariffs from the worldwide tariff authority claimed here. On pages 18-19, it argues that HMTX's rejection of a nondelegation challenge depended on statutory limits that the government's current interpretation would remove. Professor Somin said the present tariffs are too sweeping for Section 301 to authorize, and that a statute granting such power would unconstitutionally delegate legislative authority. He cited officials' statements about recreating the IEEPA tariffs as evidence that the forced-labor rationale is a pretext.
“On your other question, nothing so massive and sweeping as the government's current Section 301 tariffs can possibly authorized by the statute. And if a statute did authorize it, it would be an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to the executive.”
Read the full email
Thanks for your interest! Our amicus brief explains why the HMTX decision actually cuts against the government's position and supports ours. See pp. 12, 18: https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2026-09/FILED%20Section%20301%20Amicus%20Brief_26-3555_2026-09-11.pdf On your other question, nothing so massive and sweeping as the government's current Section 301 tariffs can possibly authorized by the statute. And if a statute did authorize it, it would be an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to the executive. As for concluding that it's a pretext, that's evident from government officials' own repeated statements that they were trying to recreate the IEEPA tariffs. See the summary of this in our brief, and the extensive evidence in the plaintiffs' filings. Thanks again! Ilya
Somin sent this statement in reply to Dispute Index's questions about HMTX, the scope of Section 301 and the evidence for pretext. The website link identifies Somin; the email is not published there. His response is reproduced as sent, with line breaks added and the signature block and quoted request omitted.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
Relative to the Section 301 forced-labor tariffs, Professor Somin rejects the action as beyond the statute's authority and says a statute authorizing power on this scale would violate the Constitution. Condemned fits his rejection of the tariffs themselves. Challenged the characterization would capture only his disagreement about HMTX and pretext.