Toy company challenges Trump’s tariffs before the Supreme Court in long
shot bid for quick decision
[June 18, 2025] By
LINDSAY WHITEHURST
WASHINGTON (AP) — An Illinois toy company challenged President Donald
Trump’s tariffs in front of the Supreme Court on Tuesday in a long shot
bid to press the justices to quickly decide whether they are legal.
Learning Resources Inc. filed an appeal asking the Supreme Court to take
up the case soon rather than let it continue to play out in lower
courts. The company argues the Republican president illegally imposed
tariffs under an emergency powers law rather than getting approval from
Congress.
While the company won an early victory in a lower court, the order is on
hold as an appeals court considers a similar ruling putting a broader
block on Trump’s tariffs. The appeals court has allowed Trump to
continue collecting tariffs under the emergency powers law ahead of
arguments set for late July.
The company argued in court documents the case can’t wait that long, “in
light of the tariffs’ massive impact on virtually every business and
consumer across the Nation, and the unremitting whiplash caused by the
unfettered tariffing power the President claims.”
The Supreme Court is typically reluctant to take up cases before appeals
courts have decided them, lowering the odds that the justices will agree
to hear it as quickly as the company is asking.
Still, Learning Resources CEO Rick Woldenberg said tariffs and
uncertainty are taking a major toll now. He’s looking ahead to the
back-to-school and holiday seasons, when the company usually makes most
of its sales for the year.
“All the people that are raising their prices are doing it with a sense
of dread,” Woldenberg told The Associated Press. But, “we do not have a
choice. We absolutely do not have a choice.”
Attorneys for Learning Resources and sister company hand2mind, suggested
the court could consider whether to take up the case before the end of
the term in June and hear arguments when their next term begins in the
fall, a relatively quick timetable.
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Rick Woldenberg, CEO of Learning Resources, an educational toy
company whose products are manufactured in China, stands at a
warehouse in Vernon Hills, Ill., April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y.
Huh, File)
 The Trump administration has
defended the tariffs by arguing that the emergency powers law gives
the president the authority to regulate imports during national
emergencies and that the country’s longtime trade deficit qualifies
as a national emergency.
Trump has framed tariffs as a tool to lure factories back to
America, raise money for the Treasury Department and strike more
favorable trade agreements with other countries.
“The Trump administration is legally using the powers granted to the
executive branch by the Constitution and Congress to address our
country’s national emergencies of persistent goods trade deficits
and drug trafficking. If the Supreme Court decides to hear this
unfounded legal challenge, we look forward to ultimately
prevailing," said White House spokesperson Kush Desai.
Woldenberg said he’s putting “enormous resources” into shifting his
company’s supply base but the process is time-consuming and
uncertain.
“I think that our case raises uniquely important questions that this
administration won’t accept unless the Supreme Court rules on them,”
he said.
Based in Vernon Hills, Illinois, the family-owned company’s products
include the Pretend & Play Calculator Cash Register for $43.99 and
Botley the Coding Robot for $57.99.
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Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.
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