Why I sued Trump over tariffs — and won – Latest News
My identify is Rick Woldenberg. I run a family-owned toy company. I sued President Donald Trump over tariffs. And I won on the Supreme Court. Here’s why.
Our company, Learning Resources, was based by my mom, and traces back to a company bought by my grandfather in 1916. We have at all times been positioned in northern Illinois. We have a small presence in California, via a company in LA known as Educational Insights, based in 1962, which we purchased in 2006.
All of my kids work for Learning Resources. We are a mission-driven business. We create merchandise for faculties and households to help their youngsters get a good begin in life.
We have 500 workers within the United States. Much of our manufacturing takes place in China.
Rick Woldenberg, CEO of Learning Resources and hand2mind, who sued the Trump administration over tariffs that adversely impacted his toy firms and won, poses for a image, in Vernon Hills, Illinois, on February 20, 2026. REUTERS
We have tried for a decade, with out success, to discover a approach to make our toys within the United States. Few of the opposite 2,000 firms in my industry have discovered a approach to make extremely completed toys on this nation, both.
We aren’t cynical people; we’ve got robust values. But we are able to solely sell our merchandise at costs that buyers can pay.
You can’t earn a livable wage on this nation via the hand meeting of toys. And so that is simply not the correct place to make them.
I anticipated Trump’s tariffs — considerably. I moved about 16% of our manufacturing out of China, and to Vietnam and India as a substitute. I didn’t anticipate the dimensions of the tariffs — up to 145%, at one level — or that the president would gentle all our provide chains on fire.
Trump’s actions had been unprecedented. Moreover, the principles appeared arbitrary, altering each 24 to 48 hours.
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After the Supreme Court determination, the president introduced 10% tariffs on Friday, and raised them to fifteen% on Saturday. This has been occurring for a full yr.
We paid over $10 million in “emergency” tariffs in 2025 alone. We additionally spent tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} reorganizing of provide chains. And there have been additionally the prices of litigation.
We determined to not raise our costs in 2026. So we absorbed these prices. We considerably cut our advertising and marketing price range. We employed many fewer people, and the LA workplace was prevented from hiring, for a whereas.
Now that the tariffs have been ruled illegal, as imposed, I imagine we’re entitled to our money back, with curiosity. The authorities has admitted it owes us that money, in varied filings.
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It’s simple for people to grasp why many different firms backed away from difficult the president. We sued any person who prints their own money, and that’s not often advisable.
We sued any person who has 1000’s of attorneys working for them — and they don’t pay them: we, the taxpayers, do.
If energy, and elite standing, mattered, we had been destined to lose.
But that’s not how the American system works. Our system works via rule of law. Under the law, we’re equal. We felt we had been proper on the law.
In addition, the mathematics was fairly dangerous if we didn’t do something. We’d be paying many tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in tariffs, yearly. We had been paying about 2% in duties earlier than the Trump tariffs; afterwards, we had been paying up to twenty% of prices in tariffs. That’s not sustainable.
Moreover, had we not sued, the work of our nation’s Founders would have been undone. James Madison, who crafted the separation of powers within the Constitution, didn’t intend the president to change into a taxing physique.
The president tried to impose taxes on a whim. That was not what Madison had in thoughts. And whether or not it’s Donald Trump doing it, or whoever comes after Donald Trump, it’s not the American system. It’s not the America we all know.
From the start, I refused to think about that we wouldn’t win. But this case actually wasn’t towards Donald Trump. We didn’t win over a particular person. We won over a precept: the appliance of the letter of the law.
I assume it was overdue that Americans might see, in tangible phrases, that the rule of law stays supreme — that selections will likely be made not on political traces, however on an neutral evaluation of information and circumstances, in a clear, clean, studying of the law.
Our system of authorities was validated, and vindicated, and verified. We needed to see that there are three branches of authorities. We needed to see that there’s a separation of powers. We needed to see that Congress alone has duty for taxation.
The new 15% tariff is just a slight discount from what we’re paying at the moment. It expires after 150 days. It’s a regressive tax. Working Americans can pay the brunt of this tax. In my view, the president ought to drop it.
But regardless, I really feel proud, as our nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, to be half of reaffirming James Madison’s imaginative and prescient. Our Constitution is powerful. The American system works.
Rick Woldenberg is CEO of a family-owned toy company, and the plaintiff in Learning Resources v. Trump.
