Constitution Index · S.J.Res. 81 · 2025-09-18
A joint resolution terminating the national emergency declared to impose duties on articles imported from Brazil.
Latest official status (2025-10-31): Held at the desk.
Constitutional grade
A
Constitutional
SJRES 81 is constitutional. It uses explicit Article I foreign-commerce and duties powers to end an emergency-based 40% Brazil tariff, infringes no Bill of Rights protection, expands individual economic liberty, keeps foreign trade at the proper federal level while reducing emergency executive concentration, and creates no due process or takings issue.
Article I Article I, Section 8 Amendment VIII Article I, Section 10 Amendment V
SI-generated grade · passed automated checks (real Constitution citation, language rules) · not individually reviewed by a person · methodology · Report an error: hello@valuesforamerica.com
The five checks
Enumerated powers · passes
Congress has explicit authority over foreign commerce and duties under Article I, Section 8, Clauses 1 and 3, including power to lay and collect imposts and to regulate commerce with foreign nations. Terminating a declared national emergency and the duties imposed under it is a direct exercise of that legislative authority and of congressional control over delegated emergency powers.
Bill of Rights · passes
Terminates a 40% additional tariff and emergency regime rather than imposing a new restriction. No speech, religion, press, arms, search, trial, or other First through Eighth Amendment right is infringed. If anything, removal of import duties reduces government burden on purchasing, selling, and contracting liberty protected under the First, Fifth, and Ninth Amendments.
Individual liberty · passes
Imposes no new restraint on person, property, speech, labor, or belief. It removes a 40% surcharge on certain Brazil-origin goods, expanding individual freedom to buy, sell, import, and contract. The government needs no additional justification because liberty is expanded, not restricted.
Decentralization · passes
Foreign commerce and import duties cannot be handled by individuals, counties, or single states without fragmentation and retaliation. Article I, Section 10 limits state power over imposts and foreign compacts. Federal handling is the minimum necessary level, and this resolution moves power downward from emergency executive control back to normal congressional control, so it does not consolidate upward.
Due process and takings · passes
Creates no criminal liability, no seizure, no forfeiture, and no physical or regulatory taking under the Fifth Amendment. It restores normal notice-and-process customs administration and ends emergency-based duties, reducing rather than creating procedural or substantive due process risk.
Provenance
- Congress.gov: SJRES 81 summary · fetched 2026-10-08 · official page ↗
Version history · never overwritten
| Grade | Graded | Rubric | Source hash | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A · #187 | 2026-10-08 | vfa-constitutional-grade/1.0 | 7fa6e8ed8139 | current |
Cite this
Values for America. “Constitutional grade: S.J.Res. 81, A joint resolution terminating the national emergency declared to impose duties on articles imported from Brazil..” VFA Constitution Index, grade 187 (rubric vfa-constitutional-grade/1.0), graded October 8, 2026. https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution-index/grades/187. Accessed 2026-10-19.
Permalink: https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution-index/grades/187
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