Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark has joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general and two governors in filing a lawsuit against the Trump Administration. The suit aims to block President Trump’s recent move to impose new tariffs on goods imported into the United States, which the coalition argues is unlawful without congressional approval.
“Frankly, we’ve grown weary of these repeated violations of the Constitution and federal law,” said Attorney General Clark. “The U.S. Supreme Court held that under the Constitution only Congress can levy taxes, not the President. This latest scheme is a blatant attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court’s decision and the limitations on the President’s authority established by the Constitution and Congress. I will keep standing up for the Constitution.”
According to Clark, President Trump has imposed tariffs over the past year without proper legal authority. Initially, he relied on powers from the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify tariffs of any amount on products from any country for any period. In April 2025, Clark and other state attorneys general challenged this approach in court. Two weeks ago, their position was upheld when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that using IEEPA for such tariffs was unlawful.
After this court defeat, President Trump invoked Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974—a law not previously used for this purpose—to announce 15 percent tariffs on most global imports. The coalition contends that Section 122 allows presidential action only in limited cases involving “large and serious balance-of-payments deficits.” They argue that a trade deficit does not meet this criterion and thus claim that Trump’s actions are again unlawful.
A study by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that nearly 90 percent of tariff costs in 2025 were borne by American consumers and businesses.
Other states joining Vermont in this lawsuit include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. The governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania have also joined.
This marks Attorney General Clark’s 43rd case against actions taken by the Trump Administration since January 2025.
