FINALLY: Trump gets what he DESERVES after Supreme Court loss

I'm joined now by the co-founder of. Democracy Defenders Action, Norm Eisen. Norm, I have been looking forward to. talking to you about this in particular. because as we all know, a few days ago. the Supreme Court handed down a ruling. invalidating Trump's tariffs. And the. question became, what about everybody. who paid for these tariffs? What legal. action is being taken because we've all. spent all this money now buying goods. and those tariffs were unconstitutional. You have an update here. Can you bring. that to us? Yes, Brian. It's so great to be back.

with you and your viewers. This is. another major [clears throat]. pushback by a 6-3 vote at the Supreme. Court. And like the famous Sherlock home. line, Watson, what about the dog that didn't bark in. the night? The Supreme Court left a. complete blank slate for everybody who. has been wrongly assessed these tariffs. That over 150 billion dollars worth of.

wrongly assessed tariffs to go to court. and get their money back. In a better. world, the administration would just. say, "Sure, we'll pay you back." They're. going to make people fight for them. So, at Democracy Defenders Action, we've. been very active in this case. We have represented conservatives. Every administration from Nixon to Trump. won saying these tariffs are illegal. And now we're very pleased to be working.

with former New Jersey. Attorney General Matt Platkin. And we're going to be working on getting. those illegal tariffs. back for those who paid them. Particularly for small businesses, Brian. You know, they operate on such a. tight profit margin. These tens of. thousands of dollars, in some cases. hundreds of thousands of dollars, that. small businesses paid in tariffs. are the difference between being.

profitable and declaring bankruptcy. So, we're going to fight for those small. businesses. And so, how what is the. structure of these lawsuits? Is it going. to be one big class action lawsuit? Is. there going to be a whole deluge of. individual litigation on behalf of each. individual small business owner? Um, well, the uh exact form of the. litigation uh will be worked out in the. days ahead. Um, but the easiest way to. do these cases is to have the.

individuals. file. uh for um. legal claim for what they paid and then. to centralize all of those claims. You. know, if you have one small business. owner who's um. paid 50 or $100,000, it can be very tough to litigate that. kind of a case because it's so expensive. to go to court. But, if you're. representing dozens, hundreds, thousands. of those business owners, then you can.

go to court and for the business owners, it can be very much more streamlined to. get their money back. uh if uh they're not going through a. class action mechanism, but instead. they're filing their individual cases. and those cases are being litigated in a. centralized way. Norm, is there some. hope that by virtue of the work that you. and your team are doing to help um. streamline this process for impacted. small business owners that that could.

force the administration's hand so that. they're not just mired in these court. proceedings, which, you know, if if. these small business owners start. winning one by one, then it's not just. that they're spending money to to to. make these small business owners whole, they're also paying the legal fees. And. so, it might actually be more beneficial. for the White House to ultimately say, "Hey, if we're going to lose this much, it's just going to be worth it for us to. figure out a way to streamline this. refund process, this reimbursement. process, so that we're not getting. killed twice, one on the refunds and. another on the legal fees. Is that your.

hope for all of this? Um. it is, you know, we've learned in. litigating with these administration. um figures and um between Democracy. Defenders Fund and Democracy Defenders. Action, uh we have over 260. legal cases and matters. We've learned. that um. asking politely is not always the way to. go, Brian. Yeah.

Yeah. >> You need to in a more normal. circumstance, uh major loss at the. Supreme Court like this, the. administration would say, "Hey, we'll. set up a system to pay everybody back.". Here, we think it is important to file. those cases. Could be done, as you. asked, through class action. It can be. done through these individual claims. that are rolled up. We call that a mass. action where a bunch of individuals are. working together. There's strength in. numbers. They're a uh a mass of uh.

claims uh. uh moving in synchronicity. The advantage of going to court is you. may be able to get a fast resolution, get the cases, uh get a test case, get. it resolved, get a court declaration. that then allows other speedy. resolution. For example, uh Congress. could say, "Hey, we don't want to make. our small businesses go through this. process of having to litigate, so we're.

going to put something in a bill. We're. going to attach it to must-pass spending. uh. uh legislation, and we're going to make. our wonderful small businesses whole. that way." The Supreme Court has said. very unequivocally this was illegal. By. 6-3. uh ruling, you had three liberals, three. conservatives, different reasoning, same. result, illegal tariffs. And there's. very strong case law that when an. illegal tariff is assessed, uh you're.

entitled to get your money back that you. were uh forced to pay uh under illegal. uh circumstances. So, uh perhaps. Congress will respond to the litigation. I think the public should certainly. respond. It's not fair to these small. businesses. They're the drivers of our. economy. They uh are the job creators. Um they create innovation and new. products. So, uh Attorney General.

Platkin knows a lot about this, just. left as the New Jersey AG, and is. spearheading the effort uh with us at. Democracy Defenders Action to try to. figure out a good resolution in these. matters. You know, Norm, a lot of people. are going to watch this and certainly. agree uh with you when you say that. these small businesses are the drivers. of the economy, but there are also. consumers who have been impacted, consumers who have bought electronics. and clothing, food, uh housing.

equipment, whatever it may be, um who. had to pay more as the direct result of. these tariffs because oftentimes the. companies will just pass on the cost. directly to the consumer. And so, what. can impacted consumers do who are. looking for some some way to get whole. given Trump's imposition of of illegal. tariffs? Well, um we always say, Brian, we've. talked about it on your show many times, the importance of proceeding in the. court of law and in the court of public.

opinion. And that's where these. consumers come in. In the court of law, we've been very proud this is not a. partisan issue. It's a non-partisan. issue. We represented dozens of. conservatives from every Republican. presidential administration, from Nixon. to Trump, saying, "Hey, uh. we're supposed to be a free market. economy. These tariffs. are illegal and they're impinging the. freedom of our markets.". Uh then, uh you have the court of public.

opinion. That's where the consumers come. in in speaking out, in making their. voices heard, in supporting our small. businesses. >> [clears throat]. >> As in the court of law, uh you have. those who have legal standing, uh the. businesses who've actually paid the. amounts. I think it's beneficial for. consumers if we can get that $150. billion plus back into the hands of. these businesses. Just as the prices. went up under the tariffs, uh perhaps.

there'll be positive impacts on. affordability for all Americans. Certainly, uh it makes a point about our democracy. It's really a double bottom line here. Yes, there's the question of uh the. people who've had to pay the wrongful. tariffs. But, Brian, there's also the. question of everybody who steps up to. litigate this in the court of law or to. speak out in the court of public opinion. is also standing up for our rule of law,

for our democracy. So, um. uh the American people are responding in. a very significant way. Uh it really was. a a landmark case, and we were very. proud to start work for those. conservatives. And now we're going to be. moving over uh to support uh small. businesses if that's possible, depending. on their circumstances. So, Norm, let's. say I'm a small business owner who is. impacted by the imposition of these.

tariffs, these unlawful tariffs. What. could I do if I was, you know, listening. to you speak and wanted to be part of. this whole process? Well, the first thing you need to do is. to get information. Email Attorney General Blockin. He set. up an email address tariff refunds t a r. i f f r e f u n d s at. blockin. llp e l a t k i n l l p dot com and.

Brian I will as always. share that email address with you. I'm. going to put that in the I'm going to. put that in the right here on the screen. and that's going to stay on the screen. for a while so folks can write it down. on their own and I'm also going to put. that email address in the post. description of this video. Terrific. And. then you. can get more information and of course. legal cases. need to be assessed. Every individual.

their claims their status needs to be. looked at. If you email him and and request more. information. the uh. Blockin. firm will get back to you and you know. they're looking at this through a double. bottom line. They want to find ways to. help small businesses if possible. including in court. But Brian they're. also fighting for democracy. They are a. public interest firm doing so many.

wonderful things the former AG. Instead. of joining big law he left his AG post. and he's come out here to help all of us. in fighting for democracy in the public. interest as well as analyzing whether. it's possible to get refunds back. Norm. we can all see how much this impact how. much this Supreme Court decision impacts. Trump. He was I rate in the immediate. aftermath he he called an emergency. press conference imposed a 10% global. tariff under a different authority the.

next morning, still stewing from this, he upped that 10% global tariff to 15%. He went on a rampage against even the. conservative justices and said that. their family should be ashamed. This is. obviously something that impacts him. And so, is there any concern from your. end? And I have a feeling I know what. the answer is going to be, but is there. any concern from your end that by giving. impacted Americans an outlet to get. whole as the result of these illegal. tariffs that you're going to draw the.

ire of Donald Trump, who clearly takes. this issue personally? I. uh. have long ago. >> [laughter]. >> uh abandoned any concern that I have. about doing that. Yeah. Probably. somewhere uh around the hundredth uh. case or matter against the Trump. administration, Brian. And it's been. such a privilege to come on your show to. share. uh that uh journey. Uh what a distance we've traveled.

together uh with your wonderful viewers, listeners. uh over the past year plus, where you. know, I wrote for the New York Times as. Donald Trump was coming into office, are. we sleepwalking. into autocracy? Yeah. But these legal. cases and matters, hundreds of them, and. it's not just us, it's it's many others. who also litigated, they uh threw off. sparks that has become a fire of.

justice. And you see public protest, political leaders, dawning press. awareness, and in particular results in. public opinion polls and at polling. places uh repudiating authoritarianism. really in a bipartisan way, a big tent. coalition. And the danger, death, and. destruction has been vast, but that. atmosphere of impunity and uh. uh and fear has dissipated as people.

become more and more courageous. I think. history will look back for example at. Minneapolis, the way we talk about. Birmingham or Selma as key inflection. points in the civil rights movement. We've we've seen. the real birth of a democracy movement. that is stronger than Donald Trump's. authoritarianism. And I think this. tariffs case is a declaration by the.

Supreme Court that they're not going to. have it at least in this area. I by no. means agree with everything that they. have done or will do, but they're not. having it here and great lawyers like. former AG Plotkin are fighting in court. to do the right thing as well. And the. tariff case provides another opportunity. to um uh to achieve that double bottom. line, recovering wrongly paid tariffs for.

small businesses. both for the sake of redress and. accountability, making them whole, and. helping with affordability in our. economy, but also the other bottom line. of joining in to fight for our. democracy. Well, look, I I have said it. before and I'll say it again. I am always happy to elevate the. fighters and there's no better fighter. than you. So, I appreciate the work that. you're doing alongside the former AG of.

New Jersey. And one last time, Norm, can. you give the email address so that folks. who are looking to participate can reach. out? >> Tariff refunds. t a r i f f r e f u n d. s at. plotkin llp. p l a t k i n l l p dot com. email the former AG let him know your. interest again no guarantees of course.

but he's there to give you more. information particularly if you're a. small business owner. those are the potential critical cases. that can make the difference in striking. that double bottom line getting back the. tariff that you directly paid but also. striking a another blow for our. democracy excellent and again that email. address is tariff refunds at plotkin p l.

a t k i n l l p dot com and again that. link is going to be in the post. description of this video norm as always. thanks for the work you're doing thanks. for taking the time today. thanks Brian great being with you as. always.