www.thecentersquare.com – By Brett Rowland | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-14 13:31:00
(The Center Square) – A nonprofit public-interest litigation firm filed a lawsuit Monday alleging President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs require congressional approval.
The Liberty Justice Center, based in Texas, challenged the administration’s reciprocal tariffs, which Trump announced on April 2 and suspended on April 9, hours after they went into effect.
The Liberty Justice Center filing argues that the administration has no authority to issue across-the-board worldwide tariffs without congressional approval. The nonprofits lawsuit alleges Trump has broadly overstepped his authority by claiming “the authority to unilaterally levy tariffs on goods imported from any and every country in the world, at any rate, calculated via any methodology – or mere caprice – immediately, with no notice, or public comment, or phase-in, or delay in implementation, despite massive economic impacts that are likely to do severe damage to the global economy.”
The suit alleges that the statute Trump has used to justify the tariffs, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, doesn’t give Trump the authority he thinks it does.
“His claimed emergency is a figment of his own imagination: trade deficits, which have persisted for decades without causing economic harm, are not an emergency,” according to the lawsuit. “Nor do these trade deficits constitute an ‘unusual and extraordinary threat.'”
The suit asks the U.S. Court of International Trade to “declare the President’s unprecedented power grab illegal, enjoin the operation of the executive actions that purport to impose these tariffs under the IEEPA, and reaffirm this country’s core founding principle: there shall be no taxation without representation.”
Liberty Justice Center filed the case on behalf of New York-based wine and spirit importers VOS Selections; Pennsylvania-based freshwater fishing supplier FishUSA; Utah-based plumbing and irrigation suppliers Genova Pipe; Virginia-based toy designer MicroKits LLC; and Vermont-based women’s bicycling company Terry Precision Cycling.
All five companies import products from other countries affected by the tariffs, including the 10% baseline tariffs.
The suit argues Trump’s tariffs were over broad and disregarded existing trade agreements.
“These tariffs even applied to places with no civilian population or international trade activity, such as the British Indian Ocean Territory, whose only human inhabitants belong to a joint American and British military base on the island of Diego Garcia, and the Heard and McDonald Islands, which are inhabited only by penguins and seals,” Liberty Justice Center attorneys noted in the court filing.
Liberty Justice Center said that Trump’s so-called “reciprocal” tariffs were crude calculations: “The chosen formula is not an accepted methodology for calculating trade barriers and has no basis in economic theory.”
The Liberty Justice Center action also takes issues with the idea that trade deficits are bad. Trump has repeatedly said that U.S. trade deficits are the result of trading partners ripping off the U.S. for decades.
“Nor are trade deficits an emergency or even necessarily a problem; they simply mean that some other country sells lots of things Americans want to buy, or that its people are unwilling or unable (often because of poverty) to purchase many American goods,” according to the lawsuit.
Trump has made audacious promises about his tariffs on the campaign trail and since inauguration. He has said tariffs will make the U.S. “rich as hell,” bring back manufacturing jobs lost to lower-wage countries in decades past and shift the tax burden away from U.S. families.
A tariff is a tax on imported goods. The importer pays the tax and can either absorb the loss or pass the tax on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
In his “Liberation Day” speech, Trump said foreign nations for decades have stolen American jobs, factories and industries. He said the tariffs would bring in new jobs, factories and industries and return the U.S. to a manufacturing superpower.
“Our country and its taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years,” Trump said. “But it is not going to happen anymore.”
Some nations, including China, have responded with retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. Others have signaled they are eager to make a deal with the Trump administration. Trump has not yet announced any trade deals. Trump paused the higher tariffs for 90 days, giving his administration limited time to make deals with 75 nations the White House reported reached out seeking trade negotiations.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Shirleen Guerra | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-23 13:05:00
(The Center Square) – Virginia regulators are reviewing Dominion Energy’s long-term energy plan, which environmental groups say leans too heavily on fossil fuels and violates state climate law.
Last week, the State Corporation Commission held afour-day hearingto determine whether the plan complies with the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which requires 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045.
The Virginia Clean Economy Act, passed in 2020, sets binding targets for phasing out fossil fuels and requires utilities like Dominion to submit detailed planning documents for how they plan to meet those goals.
Dominion’s proposal includes continued investment in natural gas infrastructure and delays retiring its existing fleet of fossil fuel plants. Critics argue the plan fails to account for lower-cost, cleaner alternatives like solar, wind and battery storage.
The Southern Environmental Law Center and Appalachian Voices testified during the hearings, warning that Dominion’s approach could lock Virginians into decades of pollution and rising utility bills.
They argue the plan prioritizes corporate profits over public health and environmental compliance.
The surge in energy demand is largely driven by Northern Virginia’s booming data center industry, which accounts for more than 20% of Dominion’s forecasted load growth.
Dominion says itsplan is designedto ensure grid reliability and meet growing energy demand, particularly from data centers and large-scale industrial users. The company has defended its gas investments as necessary to maintain system stability as older coal and gas units are phased out.
“Power demand in Virginia is growing at the highest levels since World War II,” Dominion spokesperson Aaron Ruby told The Center Square. “Our plan will serve growing power demand with reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean energy. Renewables alone cannot reliably serve all our customers’ needs. Renewables are not always available, so we need nuclear and natural gas to keep the power on all the time. Our long-term plan includes about 80% renewables and carbon-free nuclear, and about 20% natural gas.”
He continued, “That is the diverse, balanced mix that will deliver both reliable service and increasingly clean energy.” He also noted that power demand will double in the next 15 years.
The SCC will accept post-hearing briefs until May 19, 2025, before issuing a decision. While the commission does not approve or reject Integrated Resource Plans outright, it can rule whether the plan is ‘reasonable and in the public interest,’ influencing future project approvals.
“If we follow Dominion’s short-sighted plan, which builds 6 gigawatts of new methane gas power plants in the 2030s and ignores the potential of cleaner alternatives, we will virtually guarantee a non-compliant, dirty, and expensive electric system,” said Nate Benforado, senior attorney at SELC. He argued that building battery storage instead of gas plants would be more cost-effective and better for public health.
www.youtube.com – 13News Now – 2025-04-23 06:08:31
SUMMARY: We experienced cloudy and cool conditions on Wednesday morning, with temperatures around 66°F at the airport, and a mix of low to mid-60s across the area. Overnight rain totals included significant amounts, with some areas receiving over an inch. Currently, showers are winding down along the coast, though lingering rain persists in the southern Outer Banks. As the day progresses, we can expect gradual clearing and drier conditions. Thursday will bring sunny skies and comfortable temperatures in the low 70s, followed by a warming trend into the weekend with a chance of showers on Saturday. Tonight’s low will be near 53°F.
Late-week warmup, and more wet weather later Saturday.
With Virginia poised to elect its first woman governor later this year, the future of its state legislature is also female.
About 80 House of Delegates candidates are women, representing Democrats, Republicans and third party contenders. They are incumbents and challengers in primary or general elections vying for a role in the House, where all 100 seats are up for election. Of the 86 non-incumbents running statewide, 41 of those are women, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
Those numbers could fluctuate over the next month or so as several districts have multi-person primaries and additional independent candidates have until June 17 to get on the ballot for November’s general elections.
With Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle Sears and former congresswoman Abigail Spanberger battling for the governor’s mansion, the women seeking seats in the House can help boost their gubernatorial campaigns, too.
The top of the ticket
Virginia elections draw national scrutiny and lots of attention from political pundits, since its state elections follow close on the heels of presidential contests.
A year after President Donald Trump’s first election, Virginia’s 2017 House races ushered in a “Blue Wave” and laid the groundwork for a Democratic trifecta. Similarly, Virginia’s 2021 elections — a year after Democrat Joe Biden was sent to the White House — ignited a red takeover with Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s election and Republicans winning control in the House of Delegates for a term.
While presidential or congressional midterm elections nationwide typically see higher turnouts than other election years, Virginia’s unique timing of its state elections offers insight to pundits. But it also showcases which issues motivate Virginians specifically.
“These off-off year elections have lower turnout so it matters which side is motivated,” said political analyst Jessica Taylor with Cook Political Report.
Though most of the past two decades have seen Virginia elect a governor of the opposite party that won the White House the year before — and thus also benefit that party in House races — both Virginia’s gubernatorial candidates have top-down benefits to draw from.
“Earle-Sears’ biggest asset has been that Youngkin has remained popular and that the Virginia economy is doing well,” Taylor said.
She cautioned, however, that Trump’s policies could end up hurting her down the line while benefiting Spanberger. Sweeping federal job cuts stemming from the president and advisor Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have made a big impact in Virginia and could have lingering effects, she said.
A government shutdown in Washington D.C. in 2013 shortly before that year’s statehouse elections may have played a role in Democratic former Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s win, despite former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, winning the year before.
Although the DOGE cuts are unfolding earlier in the year, Taylor suspects they could still influence voters by November.
“Losing your job is more permanent than a furlough and a shutdown,” she said.
Another factor, particularly as so many women are running up and down the ticket this year, could be reproductive laws.
Women ‘need to be in the room’
Virginia’s status as the least restrictive Southern state when it comes to abortion access is one that Democrats are working to keep — and permanently protect.
The amendment needed to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution has only advanced on partisan lines, with Republican women lawmakers opposing it. Following the outcome of this year’s House elections, it will need to pass again before it can appear on statewide ballots for voters to weigh in.
“These are things that directly impact us, our daughters and our granddaughters,” said House District 71 Democratic nominee Jessica Anderson. “I think (women) absolutely need to be in the room when these decisions are being made.”
All Republican delegates and senators opposed the amendment, but their party first tried to tweak it. They’d sought to insert existing state code requiring parental consent for minors seeking abortions.
While Republican women incumbents opposed the measure, they said they had their reasons.
Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chesterfield grew tearful while describing the Democratic version of the bill as “extreme” and said that it would “strip away” parental rights.
“How can we place such a heavy burden on young women across the commonwealth?” she asked her colleagues in January. “I cannot imagine my 15-year-old daughter having to face this decision without me.”
Republicans had sought to insert existing state and federal protections for newborns into the abortion amendment, as well. Democrats rejected the insertions and advanced the proposed constitutional amendment as they’d written it.
Coyner has sided with Democrats on some issues — like their constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to ex-felons who’ve served their time — but aligned with her party on the reproductive rights amendment. Three Democratic challengers — two men and a woman — will face off in a primary this June, and the victor will challenge Coyner in November.
Del. Kim Taylor clinched her last re-election by just 53 votes; her rematch with challenger Kimberly Pope Adams is among the most competitive districts for both parties this year.
Taylor attempted to stake out a nuanced stance on reproductive health this year. Her House Bill 2562 would have shored up protections for abortions or abortion-like procedures as treatment for “nonviable” pregnancies, which lack a standard definition and are handled on a case-by-case basis by physicians.
A nonviable pregnancy is one that “cannot result in a live-born infant, including an ectopic pregnancy or failed intrauterine pregnancy,” as defined in Taylor’s bill.
“We hear so often from the other side that this is a health care crisis, and that women are dying because there is an unclear standard of care,” she told The Mercury at the time. “Miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies are nonviable pregnancies, and therefore cannot be confused with elective abortion procedures. This would have put any doubt about the law to rest.”
But the bill was never brought up for a vote, so it failed this legislative session by default.
Democrats, on the other hand, argue their amendment will best protect people’s reproductive needs and choices. Each Democratic woman challenger The Mercury spoke with for this story stressed their desire to help it advance.
Surge of Democrats
From red to blue to purple, Democrats are running candidates in nearly all 100 House of Delegates districts this year compared to Republicans, who are pitching candidates across 66 districts. Each challenger has their own reasons to take on the incumbents they’re hoping to unseat, but they’re also hoping to drive party turnout to the polls.
“One of my jobs is to be a point guard to up-ballot candidates,” said House District 48 Democratic candidate Melody Ann Cartwright.
She’s “not delusional” about how hard she will have to work campaigning in the Martinsville-anchored district that the Virginia Public Access Project labels “Strong Republican,” but she knows her campaign can help keep her party inspired.
While Democrats have a 51-49 majority, they hope to hold and expand it. Taking back the House could help Republicans balance the Democrats’ control of the Senate, which is not up for election this year.
Some districts are highly competitive and offer each party a unique chance to claw back power around the state.
In the New River Valley within Southwest Virginia, Democrat Lily Franklin nearly defeated Del. Chris Obenshain, R-Montgomery, in 2023 and she’s hoping for victory in their rematch this year. Taylor and Pope Adams will go head-to-head again to represent their Petersburg-anchored district. First-time candidate May Nivar — who still must win a Democratic primary — hopes to take on Del. David Owen, R-Henrico. Anderson, from District 71, hopes that this time she can topple Del. Amanda Batten, R-James City County.
Anderson lost by one percentage point in 2023, and this time has more investment from party organizers, she said.
Countering this, Batten helped form an informal “purple caucus” to support fellow GOP candidates in competitive districts.
“If any of us find some best practices or have some good ideas that we think would be useful, then we try to share those and collaborate with each other,” she recently told The Mercury.
Republican groups are also boosting their male and female candidates in competitive districts where Democrats are vulnerable. A new series of advertisements from the Republican State Leadership Committee and Virginia House Republican Campaign Committee target delegates Michael Feggans, D-Virginia Beach, Josh Cole, D- Fredericksburg, Nadarius Clark, D-Suffolk, and Josh Thomas, D-Prince William.
Across all of 2023’s elections, just 975 votes ultimately determined which party landed the majority in the House — underscoring how each ballot cast could prove decisive this year.
As excitement builds within Virginia, Jessica Taylor with Cook Political Report said she’s watching how national groups pour money into the gubernatorial election, which can help down-ballot candidates.
Anderson said she thinks it’s “really cool” that there are so many women stepping up to lead Virginia’s government, especially the gubernatorial candidates, whom she acknowledged both have a momentous role to play, whatever the election’s outcome.
“I want Spanberger to be our history-maker,” she said. “But, no matter where this goes, we’re making history.”
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Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
The content provided has a Center-Left bias primarily due to its emphasis on women candidates in the Democratic Party and the discussion surrounding reproductive rights, which are more aligned with Democratic values. While the article does mention Republican candidates and acknowledges their positions, it predominantly highlights the efforts of Democratic women in the upcoming elections and their struggles with reproductive health legislation. This focus on promoting Democratic candidates and issues, particularly in the context of Virginia’s evolving political landscape, suggests a lean toward progressive ideals. Additionally, the framing of issues and the positive language used regarding Democratic efforts indicates a favorable stance toward the Democratic Party’s agenda.
