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By Sara Merken

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REUTERS/Nathan Howard

U.S. Supreme Court justices raised doubts over the legality of President Trump's sweeping tariffs in a case with implications for the global economy that marks a major test of Trump's powers.

Both conservative and liberal justices sharply questioned the lawyer representing Trump's administration about whether the president had intruded on the power of Congress in imposing tariffs under a 1977 law meant for use during national emergencies.

But some of the conservative justices also signaled that they were wrestling with their recognition of the inherent power that presidents have in dealing with foreign countries, suggesting the court could be sharply divided in the outcome of the case. 

During arguments lasting more than 2-1/2 hours, the justices asked U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer whether Trump's application of this statute to impose tariffs of unlimited duration was a major action by the executive branch that would require clear congressional authorization. Those questions related to the Supreme Court's "major questions" doctrine, which requires executive branch actions of vast economic and political significance to be clearly authorized by U.S. lawmakers. Read more from Andrew Chung, John Kruzel and Jan Wolfe.

Plus, here is our live coverage of the arguments and reactions.

In New York: Gibson Dunn brought on Sebastian Fain as co-head of cross-border M&A from Freshfields … Boies Schiller added partners Robert Gordon from Herrick Feinstein and Frederick Lee from Walt Disney … Freshfields tapped former Paul Weiss partner Anna Gressel as global co-head of its artificial intelligence practice … DLA Piper hired corporate and M&A partner Viktor Sapezhnikov from Wachtell … Fried Frank picked up fund finance partner John Oberdorf from Dentons … Krauss Shaknes Tallentire & Messeri tapped matrimonial and family law partner Alexis Wolf from Chemtob Moss Forman & Beyda.

In D.C.: Capital markets partner Chrys Carey moved to Dentons from Morrison Foerster … Former DOJ foreign investment review official Eric Johnson jumped to Proskauer as a corporate partner.

In Houston: Vinson & Elkins hired energy dealmaker Chris Bennett from Weil … Nelson Mullins added disputes partner Lena Serhan from White & Case … Latham brought on former Sterling Group general counsel Max Klupchak … Energy sector M&A and private equity partner Joshua Teahen joined White & Case from Kirkland.

In London: Simpson Thacher tapped M&A partner Nick Appleton from Kirkland … Ashurst hired private equity partner Amy Barker from Linklaters … Baker Botts added energy M&A partners Alex Msimang and Nadine Amr from Vinson & Elkins … Michelman Robinson hired commercial and business litigation partner Akshay Sewlikar from Linklaters … Cooley picked up partner Charlotte Witherington from Taylor Wessing, where she was head of the UK financial services regulatory group … Quinn Emanuel hired disputes partner Andrew Savage from McDermott.

In Los Angeles: Dennis Raglin, former chair of the Proposition 65 and consumer chemicals group at Steptoe, joined Carlton Fields … Greenberg Traurig added former Paul Hastings partner Sean Monroe to its entertainment and media practice … Wilson Elser hired partners Hillary Booth and Joshua Levine from Booth. 

Across other cities: Littler added former Amazon employee relations global director Barbara Russell in San Francisco … Akerman brought on litigation partner Tammy Mercer in Wilmington from Young Conaway … Spencer Fane hired real estate partner Dan Burke in St. Louis from Armstrong Teasdale … Cybersecurity and privacy litigation partner Amanda Fitzsimmons joined Jones Day in San Diego from Salt Security … Jackson Lewis added Minneapolis-based employment litigator Paul Lukas from Nichols Kaster.

New offices and mergers: Dorsey & Whitney opened an office in Chicago with five partners from Perkins Coie, while also adding two partners in Boise … Morgan Lewis launched an office in Riyadh with a team of six lawyers, including M&A and capital markets partners Sultan Almasoud and Sanjarbek Abdukhalilov from A&O Shearman … Cozen O’Connor will add more than 50 lawyers through a merger with Minneapolis firm Moss & Barnett in January.