Fortnite maker Epic Games and Google just agreed on a comprehensive settlement that could be the final chapter in Epics long battle over app store rules.
In a joint filing in a San Francisco federal court, both companies proposed a resolution to Epics antitrust lawsuit against Google, which the game publisher filed in 2020 along with a parallel lawsuit against Apple.
In a post on X, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney called the proposed settlement awesome and expressed hope that the courts would agree.
It genuinely doubles down on Android’s original vision as an open platform to streamline competing store installs globally, reduce service fees for developers on Google Play, and enable third-party in-app and web payments, Sweeney said. This is a comprehensive solution, which stands in contrast to Apples model of blocking all competing stores and leaving payments as the only vector for competition.
In the settlement, Google agrees to cap app store fees at 9% to 20% depending on the transaction. Currently, Google takes a 15% cut of the first $1 million in developer revenue and 30% of anything above that threshold. Beyond lowering fees, Google also said it would allow alternate app stores to be offered officially in the next major Android update. All of the proposed changes would go into effect globally not just in the U.S. and remain in place through 2032.
The surprise settlement follows some resounding losses for Google. Late last year, a judge sided with Epic on many of the game publishers demands and ordered Google to open its app marketplace to competing third-party app stores in the U.S. for three years, a decision that stood to completely remake Androids app ecosystem. Prior to the settlement, it looked like Googles last hope was a hail mary asking the Supreme Court to take on the case a long shot given that the court previously shrugged off Epics parallel case against Apple.
Epics epic battle
In 2020, Epic kicked off a flashy campaign to rally people against mobile softwares gatekeepers by breaking the rules of both Google and Apples app stores intentionally, getting Fortnite kicked off of phones and tablets in the process. In lawsuits against both companies, Epic argued that Google and Apple violated antitrust laws by forcing users to pay for apps and in-app purchases through their app marketplaces while taking a slice of every transaction.
While Epics case against Apple is now mostly resolved without too much disruption to Apples business, the iPhone maker did land itself in hot water earlier this year when a federal judge determined that it violated the terms of a court order forcing it to give developers more freedom to accept payments.
Epics case against Google took a different path. After years of back-and-forth in court, Epic landed a major win over the summer when a federal appeals court upheld a jury verdict that deemed Google Play, Androids app store, to be a monopoly. In other recent cases, courts determined that Google was operating a monopoly in its digital ads and search engine businesses.
Together with Epic Games we have filed a proposed set of changes to Android and Google Play that focus on expanding developer choice and flexibility, lowering fees, and encouraging more competition all while keeping users safe, Android Ecosystem President Sameer Samat wrote on X, adding that the company would discuss the settlement with a judge on Thursday.
Elon Musk turned off many potential buyers of his Tesla cars and sent sales plunging with his foray into politics. But the stock has soared anyway and now he wants the company to pay him more a lot more.
Shareholders gathering Thursday for Tesla’s annual meeting in Austin, Texas, will decide in a proxy vote whether to grant Musk, the company’s CEO and already the richest person in the world, enough stock to potentially make him history’s first trillionaire.
It’s a vote that has sparked heated debate on both sides of the issue, even drawing the pope’s comments on it as an example of income inequality.
Several pension funds have come out against the package, arguing that the board of directors is too beholden to Musk, his behavior too reckless lately, and the riches offered too much.
Supporters say Musk is a genius who is the only person capable of ushering in a Tesla-dominated future in which hundreds of thousands of self-driving Tesla cars many without steering wheels will ferry people and humanoid Tesla robots will march around factories and homes, picking up boxes and watering plants. The pay is necessary to incentivize him, they say, and keep him focused.
Musk has threatened to walk away from the company if he doesn’t get what he wants and has blasted some of the packages critics as corporate terrorists.”
What is up for a vote
To get his Tesla shares, Musk has to secure approval from a majority of the company’s voting shareholders. Improving the odds, Musk gets to vote his own shares, worth 15% of the company.
Shareholders first heard about the pay package in September when the board of directors proposed it in a detailed filing to federal securities regulators. The document, running 200 pages, also contains other proposals up for a vote at the meeting, including whether to allow Tesla to invest in another Musk company, xAI, and who should serve on the board in the future.
How Musk can get $1 trillion
Musk won’t get necessarily get all of that money, or even a cent of it, if the package is approved. He first has to meet several operational and financial targets.
To get the full pay, for instance, he has to deliver to the car market 20 million Teslas over 10 years, more than double the number he has churned out over the past dozen years. He also has to massively increase the market value of the company and its operating profits and deliver one million robots, from zero today.
If he falls short of the biggest goals, though, the package could still hand him plenty of money.
Musk will get $50 billion in additional Tesla shares, for example, if he increases the company’s market value by 80%, something he did just this past year, as well as doubling vehicle sales and tripling operating earnings or hitting any other two of a dozen operational targets.
Musk vs. Rockefeller
Musk is already the richest man in the world with a net worth of $493 billion, according to Forbes magazine, and well ahead of some of the wealthiest of years past.
The steel giant, Andrew Carnegie, was once worth an inflation-adjusted $300 billion, according to the Carnegie Corp., well below Musk’s wealth.
Musk is still trailing John D. Rockefeller, but he’s closing in fast. The railroad titan hit peak inflation-adjusted wealth of $630 billion in 1913, according to Guinness World Records.
For his part, Musk says its not really about the money but about getting a higher Tesla stake it will double to nearly 30% so he can control the company. He says that’s a pressing concern given Tesla’s future robot army,” a reference to the company’s Optimus humanoid workers that he doesn’t trust anyone else to control.
Split among shareholders
Many investors have come out in support of the package, including Baron Capital Management, whose founder called Musk indispensable to the company. Without his relentless drive and uncompromising standards, wrote founder Ron Baron, there would be no Tesla.
Critics include the biggest in the U.S. public pension fund, Calpers, and Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest. They argue the pay is excessive, with the Norway fund expressing concern that the board that designed it, which includes Musk’s brother, is not independent enough. That echoes a decision from a Delaware court nearly two years ago that blasted the process for approving a previous Musk pay package as deeply flawed given his extensive ties to directors.
Even the Vatican has weighed in, decrying the wealth gap in the world and blasting the trillion dollar offer in particular.
If that is the only thing that has value anymore, said Pope Leo XIV, “then were in big trouble.
Musk’s record at Tesla is mixed
Judging from the stock price alone, Musk has been spectacularly successful. The company is now worth nearly $1.5 trillion.
But a lot that runup reflects big bets by investors that Musk will be able deliver things that are difficult to pull off, and the way Musk has run the company recently doesn’t inspire confidence. He has broken numerous promises, and his tendency to say whatever is on his mind has sabotaged the company.
Just this year, for instance, he vowed to deliver driverless taxis in several cities, secure regulatory approval in Europe for his self-driving software, and push sales up 20% or 30%.
Instead, his driverless robotaxis in Austin and San Francisco have human safety monitors inside. Europeans still haven’t approved his software. And Tesla sales continue to plunge, with new figures out Monday showing a stunning 50% drop last month in Germany alone.
That said, Musk has pulled off the impossible before. His company, a half dozen years ago, was widely feared to be near bankruptcy because he wasn’t making enough cars, but then he succeeded, and the stock soared.
He frequently teeters on the edge of disaster,” said Tesla owner and money manager Nancy Tengler, “and then pulls back just in the nick of time.
Bernard Condon, AP business writer
Monday, November 3, saw nearly 5,000 flights delayed in the U.S. The weekend prior saw more than 10,000. Cancellations are stacking up as well.
As the length of this most recent government shutdown sets new records, those headaches at the airport aren’t expected to ease. They are, in fact, likely to get worse. And while that’s scary news for anyone who might be planning to head home for Thanksgiving, there’s a chance it could be what gets the government back to work.
Republicans and Democrats are still at odds, and neither is showing any sign of backing down. Even the brief cessation of SNAP benefits (and the lawsuits that followed) hasn’t brought about a détente. But airlines are key to the financial health of the countryand air traffic controllers have been the key factor in ending a shutdown in the past.
Major airlines are already applying pressure. Delta, United, American, and Southwest have all called on Congress to pass a stopgap funding bill that would allow the government to reopen, citing risks to aviation safety. The airline industry lobby typically carries significant weight in Washington, as it represents 10 million jobs. It’s also a critical part of the tourism and cargo transport industries, in addition to general business. Last year, companies spent $1.47 trillion on business travel worldwide.
The delays and cancellations have been increasing for the past few weeks, as staffing shortages become more common. Air traffic controllers have been working without pay for over a month, and as a result, some have begun to call in sick.
That’s reminiscent of the government shutdown of 2019. And it was those shortages that were largely credited for breaking the logjam in Congress.
On January 25, 2019, the 35th day of that shutdown, 10 air traffic controllerssix from northern Virginia and four from Floridastayed home. That wasn’t a huge number in the grand scheme of things, but with just those 10 absences, delays stacked up at several hubs and shut down travel temporarily at LaGuardia Airport in New York. The shutdown was settled before the end of the day.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) has said it does not “endorse, support or condone” any coordinated activity by members that would impact the capacity and safety of air traffic control systems (i.e., no organized sick-outs), but it has urged the government to end the shutdown and pay its workers as soon as possible to ensure the skies are safe.
“For this nations air traffic controllers, missing just one paycheck can be a significant hardship, as it is for all working Americans. Asking them to go without a full months pay or more is simply not sustainable,” said NATCA president Nick Daniels in a statement. “These professionals are required to oversee the movement of the nations passengers and cargo while many are working 10-hour days and six-day workweeks due to the ongoing staffing shortage, all without pay. This situation creates substantial distractions for individuals who are already engaged in extremely stressful work.”
This comes on top of an existing shortage of air traffic control workers.
There is, of course, no guarantee that delays and cancellations will force Democrats and Republicans to reopen the government this time around. Both sides are playing an ongoing game of chicken, which reached new heights Tuesday when U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that “some” airspaces in the U.S. might need to be closed if the shutdown continues. He also warned that should air traffic controllers miss another full paycheck, it would result in “mass flight delays and mass cancellations” around the country.
That came a day after he told CNBC that if he thought travel was to become too risky in his department’s opinion, he would “shut the whole airspace down. We won’t let people travel.”
The last time that occurred was following the September 11 terror attacks in 2001.
On the same day Shein opened its first store in Paris, the French government said Wednesday it will suspend Shein’s website over its alleged online sale of childlike “sex dolls” online until it complies with French law, according to the Associated Press.
Fast Company has reached out to Shein for comment. A spokesperson for the company told Reuters it was working with authorities; and it has banned sex dolls on its site.
A French consumer watchdog discovered the dolls and weapons on the site over the weekend, per Reuters. (Under French law, the government can order businesses to remove illegal content from their websites, such as child pornography within 24 hours, and block access to those sites, AP reported.)
This is the online Chinese retailer’s first brick-and-mortar store in Paris, which is located on the sixth floor of the iconic BHV department store in the heart of the city. Shein sells heavily discounted, ultra “fast-fashion” and has drawn protests and boycotts from French shop owners and consumers, who decry the environmental impact that comes from making large amounts of cheap products, as well as the working conditions at its factories.
Police stood guard outside BHV on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday, bracing for the store’s opening, after several weeks of intermittent strikes, protests and boycotts; including by activists stood topless outside BHV on Monday, while several French fashion brands said they were pulling out, according to CNN.
Meanwhile, Disneyland Paris cancelled its holiday window display and pop-up store in BHV Marais, Agence France-Presse reported. “Conditions are no longer exist to calmly hold Christmas events,” Shein told AFP.
Shein said it plans to open five other store locations in France in: Dijon, Reims, Grenoble, Angers and Limoges, AFP reported.
Across the country, Americans have seen their electricity bills spike this year. Energy prices have been rising faster than inflation, and are expected to just keep rising.
In two states in particular, this issue became a core tenant of the Democratic candidates governors races.
Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia both ran in part on a promise to keep electricity costs downand both won big on election night.
Voters in New Jersey and Virginia chose leaders ready to take on soaring energy costs and the powerful interests driving them higher, Evergreen Action executive director Lena Moffitt said in a statement.
Governors-elect Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger earned voters trust with common-sense plans to lower costs by fixing [electricity grid operator] PJMs broken system and expanding cheap, homegrown, faster-to-build clean energy, she added. In elections defined by the skyrocketing cost of living, voters made clear they want leaders who will actually do something about it.”
How New Jerseys new governor will tackle electricity prices
Rising electricity rates have hit New Jersey particularly hard. Residents there saw prices spike about 21% over this past year.
Sherrill, who won New Jersey with just over 56% of votes, pledged to declare a state of emergency on utility costs on her first day in office. She has also promised to freeze residents utility rates, build more cheaper and cleaner power, and push utility companies to be more transparent.
Sherrills state of emergency could be seen as a counter to the states of emergency that President Trump declared at the beginning of his second term.
Trumps move to declare a national energy emergency cited a need to boost oil and gas production, even though increased drilling doesnt necessarily translate to lower gas prices for consumers, and renewable power is the cheapest form of new energy to build.
Trump also promised to slash electricity bills for Americans during his run for the presidency, but so far into his term, energy price are up, and expected to keep climbing. Experts have blamed his actions like inhibiting renewables, canceling federal energy assistance, and enacting tariffs on energy imports.
For New Jersey, the governor declaring a state of emergency is a signal of her priorities.
Its put everyone on notice that I am no longer going to allow the can to be kicked down the road, she said on WNYC Thursday morning. It gives everyone a sense of urgency that this has got to be tackled, and it’s got to be tackled now.
That pledge has already resulted in utility companies saying theyll come to the table to negotiate, and spurred discussions among workers about programs that could help the electricity grid, she added. Sherrill also campaigned on developing plans for new nuclear capacity in New Jersey.
How Virginias new governor will tackle electricity prices
Virginia is home to the biggest data center market in the world, with more than 600 clustered around Washington, D.C., and Richmond. And though the states electricity prices havent risen as steeply as New Jerseys, theyve still risen about 6.7% over the last year.
As even more data centers are proposed and built, experts say energy prices are likely to increase to meet growing energy demands. Dominion Energy, the biggest electric utility in the state, is also looking to build more natural gas units to support those data centers.
That raises environmental concerns, and also price concerns. Natural gas is getting more expensive because the U.S. is exporting more and more of it to other countries.
Spanberger, who won Virginia with just over 57% of the votes, made an Affordable Virginia Plan a core part of her campaign. Along with housing and healthcare, the plan specifically calls out energy bills as an area shell focus on.
To do so, she says shell expand and support Virginias local electricity generationincluding its nation-leading offshore wind development.
She plans to incentivize more solar energy projects on rooftops, parking lots, former industrial sites, abandoned mines, schools, and public buildings, supported by battery storage. Shell also encourage the development of nuclear, geothermal, fusion, and hydrogen.
Spanberger has called out data centers specifically as well, saying shell make sure they pay their own way and their fair share of their new electricity and transmission needs.
Its not yet clear how exactly shell do that, and Dominion contests the idea that data centers are being subsidized by consumers; instead, the utility has blamed inflation for rising costs.
But Dominion is also currently seeking to raise rates even more to increase its profit margins. Depending on how that case pans out, Spanberger said during a debate that it may require action within the General Assembly to ensure that large utility users like data centers are paying their fair share for the energy that they consume.
Ive been writing professionally since 2002, and in that time, Ive experimented with lots of different strategies to keep myself on track. (Ive been a columnist at Fortune and Fast Company, and am now a contributing writer for The New York Times Opinion Section, in addition to cohosting Slates Money podcast, and Ive been an editor, reporter, and opinion writer for a number of other places.)
I also have, shall we say, a fragmented attention span, and my therapist likes to routinely bring up how many women my age have undiagnosed ADHD, which I now take as a not-so-subtle hint. So I need systems and routines maybe a bit more than the average person, and it has taken me a while to find the right ones.
But I stumbled upon my biggest problem with developing a consistent writing practice by accident when I added a couple of components that focused not on the writing itself, but on idea generation and development. Like most professional writers, I take notes and carry a notebook everywhere, and my journalistic background has primed me to capture details and thoughts even when Im not on the clock. That said, there was not much consistency to it for a long time, and I didnt have a process for taking those notes and thoughts and fashioning them into something that might qualify as a good work product, or if I was being really ambitious, art.
The problem was that I was not giving myself enough raw creative material to work with, and would come up short when I needed to get something onto the page. The system I use now is a combination of physical note-taking, collation, and then review and organization once a month. I am fascinated by and have tried the Zettlekasten method, but its way too complicated for me.
A lightweight solution
My version is much more lightweight. My physical note-taking is the same, and I added morning pages right when I get up, which more than anything just allows me to clear my head of to-do list items and anxieties so I can think clearly about other things. The nature of my job(s) also means that I cant stay out of the news cycle or off social, though consuming less of both would certainly enhance my concentration, so I try to cordon it off in time blocks and get much of my writing done before I get sucked into whatever new chaos is brewing in the outside world.
Once a week, I add notes and references that I think I want to keep to a master file similar to Steven Johnsons Spark file and once a month, I set aside an hour or two on a Sunday to review it and break useful pieces into notes for discrete columns or fiction or wherever I think they belong. As a result, I never really have to sit down to a blank page. Theres always something in progress to work on and new ideas in the pipeline. I dont have to stare at a screen in an increasing state of despair and desperation until something finally emerges from my addled brain.
This specific system may not work for everybody, but what I think is generalizable is that its hard to keep up a writing practice if you let the well of creativity run dry. Its important to keep it full, even when youre not working on anything in particular.
Im teaching a Zoom workshop in December on how to make this process work for you and how to set up a creative practice in general, if youre interested in learning more about how to do this. (Registration and info are here.)
Im also interested in what other people do to make their creative practice sustainable, so suggestions and tips are welcome!
Last night, Zohran Mamdani defeated Andrew Cuomo to become the next mayor of New York City. Cue the online crashouts.
Leading the pack is Will & Grace star Debra Messing, who is now facing intense backlash for sharing dozens of posts smearing the Democratic candidate on Instagram in the run up to polls closing.
Messing took part in early voting last week, sharing in a post that she cast her ballot for Cuomo, who ran as an independent.
Before the race was called, Messing took to her Instagram Stories to share an onslaught of anti-Mamdani graphics and videos, many including blatant Islamophobia.
She reposted a video of one influencer calling Mamdani Osama bin Mamdani. Another featured a ballot on which the options were A Democrat and An Actual Communist Jihadist A literal Karl Marx-quoting, America-hating jihadist. Mamdani is not a communist but a democratic socialist.
Messing, who is Jewish and an advocate for Israel, also shared one meme saying Jews do not fly planes into buildings, as well as a Truth Social post from President Donald Trump saying that any Jewish person who votes for Mamdani is a stupid person.
Other posts that appeared on Messings Story came from conservative outlets such as CPAC, Breitbart, and Newsmax.
Her 100 plus Instagram Story crashout did not go unnoticed. The way my thread ended abruptly because this woman reached her 100 instagram stories a day limit by 1pm eastern, one X user wrote, citing Instagrams 100 Storiers per day limit. She said 431st of all, another quipped.
I think Zohran has actually broken her brain, one wrote. Fascinating albeit kinda scary to watch though.”
As Mamdani swept to victory Tuesday night, receiving 50.4% of the vote to become New York Citys new mayor, Messings meltdown is unlikely to be soon forgotten. I will personally make sure that Debra Messing’s Islamophobic crashout on Instagram is written into the history books, one wrote.
Fast Company has reached out to Messing for comment.
Messing is not alone in publicly voicing her displeasure with last nights result, much to the amusement of Mandani voters. Where the meltdowns at, i need the best rightwing meltdowns to laugh at, one X user posted.
Messings crashout is high up in the replies. Actor and comedian Michael Rapapaport also features on the list, with one calling his online reaction the greatest crash out in history.
Mamdanis election makes him the first Muslim and Indian American mayor for the city and, at 34, youngest mayor in generations. He will take office on January 1, 2026.
I feel compelled to report that Debra Messing has not posted a single instagram story since the results were announced, one X user noted.
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French authorities have warned they may block access to Shein after it emerged that the online fast fashion giant had been selling sex dolls with a childlike appearance.
Frances consumer watchdog, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control, said last week it had discovered the dolls on Sheins website, noting that their descriptions and categorization left little doubt as to their child-pornographic nature.
The agency has referred the case to public prosecutors, and Economy Minister Roland Lescure said on Monday he would seek to ban Shein from the French market if such incidents were to occur again.
This is provided for by law, he said. In cases involving terrorism, drug trafficking, or child pornographic materials, the government has the right to request that access to the French market be prohibited, Lescure told BFM TV.
The law authorizes French authorities to order online platforms to remove clearly illegal content such as child pornography within 24 hours. If they fail to comply, authorities can require internet service providers and search engines to block access and delist the site.
The watchdog said it has issued a formal notice urging the platform to take urgent corrective measures.
Shein said in a statement that it has banned all sex-doll products, and temporarily removed its adult products category for review. It added that it has launched an investigation to determine how these listings bypassed its screening measures.
The fight against child exploitation is non-negotiable for Shein,” said Executive Chairman Donald Tang said in the statement. These were marketplace listings from third-party sellers, but I take this personally. Trust is our foundation, and we will not allow anything that violates it.”
He noted that every related product has been removed and that “We are tracing the source and will take swift, decisive action against those responsible.
Meanwhile, a parliamentary fact-finding mission on the inspection of products imported into France announced it will summon Shein officials for questioning.
No economic actor can consider themselves above the law. A retailer who sold such an item would have had their store immediately closed by a prefectoral order. Shein must provide an explanation, said the mission rapporteur, Antoine Vermorel-Marques.
Under French law, the distribution via electronic communication networks of child-pornographic materials is punishable by up to seven years in prison and a 100,000 euro ($115,000) fine.
The watchdog also noted that Shein sells other pornographic products including adultlike sex dolls without effective age-filtering measures to prevent minors or sensitive audiences from accessing such pornographic content.
Shein was founded in China in 2012, and the low-cost online retailer is now based in Singapore. Reaching customers mainly through its app, it has enjoyed a meteoric rise to become a global leader in fast fashion, shipping to 150 countries. The company has faced criticism over its labor practices and environmental record.
Lescure’s comments came just days before Shein is due to open its first permanent physical store in Paris, located inside the BHV Marais department store in the heart of the French capital city. The opening has sparked controversy, with an online petition protesting Sheins arrival gathering more than 100,000 signatures.
Frederic Merlin, president of Societe des Grands Magasins, which owns BHV, called the sale of the dolls on Shein’s platform indecent and “unacceptable,” adding that “no product from Sheins international marketplace will be sold at the department store.
Meanwhile, the child-protection NGO MouvEnfants staged a protest at BHV. As long as these dolls are available somewhere in the world, the company will remain an accomplice to a system that enables sex crimes against children,” co-founder Arnaud Gallais said.
Samuel Petrequin, Associated Press
Three lower courts have ruled illegal President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose worldwide tariffs. Now the Supreme Court, with three justices Trump appointed and generally favorable to muscular presidential power, will have the final word.
In roughly two dozen emergency appeals, the justices have largely gone along with Trump in temporarily allowing parts of his aggressive second-term agenda to take effect while lawsuits play out.
But the case being argued Wednesday is the first in which the court will render a final decision on a Trump policy. The stakes are enormous, both politically and financially.
The Republican president has made tariffs a central piece of his economic and foreign policy and has said it would be a disaster if the Supreme Court rules against him.
Here are some things to know about the tariffs arguments at the Supreme Court:
Tariffs are taxes on imports
They are paid by companies that import finished products or parts, and the added cost can be passed on to consumers.
Through September, the government has reported collecting $195 billion in revenue generated from the tariffs.
The Constitution gives Congress the power to impose tariffs, but Trump has claimed extraordinary power to act without congressional approval by declaring national emergencies under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
In February, he invoked the law to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, saying that the illegal flow of immigrants and drugs across the U.S. border amounted to a national emergency and that the three countries needed to do more to stop it.
In April, he imposed worldwide tariffs after declaring the United States longstanding trade deficits a national emergency.
Libertarian-backed businesses and states challenged the tariffs in federal court
Challengers to Trump’s actions won rulings from a specialized trade court, a district judge in Washington and a business-focused appeals court, also in the nation’s capital.
Those courts found that Trump could not justify tariffs under the emergency powers law, which doesn’t mention them. But they left the tariffs in place in the meantime.
The appeals court relied on major questions, a legal doctrine devised by the Supreme Court that requires Congress to speak clearly on issues of vast economic and political significance.
The major questions doctrine doomed several Biden policies
Conservative majorities struck down three of then-President Joe Biden’s initiatives related to the coronavirus pandemic. The court ended the Democrat’s pause on evictions, blocked a vaccine mandate for large businesses and prevented student loan forgiveness that would have totaled $500 billion over 10 years.
In comparison, the stakes in the tariff case are much higher. The taxes are estimated to generate $3 trillion over 10 years.
The challengers in the tariffs case have cited writings by the three Trump appointees, Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, in calling on the court to apply similar limitations on a signal Trump policy.
Barrett described a babysitter taking children on roller coasters and spending a night in a hotel based on a parent’s encouragement to make sure the kids have fun.
In the normal course, permission to spend money on fun authorizes a babysitter to take children to the local ice cream parlor or movie theater, not on a multiday excursion to an out-of-town amusement park, Barrett wrote in the student loans case. “If a parent were willing to greenlight a trip that big, we would expect much more clarity than a general instruction to make sure the kids have fun.
Kavanaugh, though, has suggested the court should not apply the same limiting standard to foreign policy and national security issues.
A dissenting appellate judge also wrote that Congress purposely gave presidents more latitude to act through the emergency powers law.
Some of the businesses that sued also are raising a separate legal argument in an appeal to conservative justices, saying that Congress could not constitutionally delegate its taxing power to the president.
The nondelegation principle has not been used in 90 years, since the Supreme Court struck down some New Deal legislation.
But Gorsuch authored a dissent in June that would have found the Federal Communications Commissions universal service fee an unconstitutional delegation. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas joined the dissent.
What happens when Congress, weary of the hard business of legislating and facing strong incentives to pass the buck, cedes its lawmaking power, clearly and unmistakably, to an executive that craves it? Gorsuch wrote.
The justices could act more quickly than usual in issuing a decision
The court only agreed to hear the case in September, scheduling arguments less than two months later. The quick turnaround, at least by Supreme Court standards, suggests that the court will try to act fast.
High-profile cases can take half a year or more to resolve, often because the majority and dissenting opinions go through rounds of revision.
But the court can act quickly when deadline pressure dictates. Most recently, the court ruled a week after hearing arguments in the TikTok case, unanimously upholding a law requiring the popular social media app to be banned unless it was sold by its Chinese parent company. Trump has intervened several times to keep the law from taking effect while negotiations continue with China.
Mark Sherman, Associated Press
