Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate did his best to defend President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs in front of the 11-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Thursday, but he is arguing an unprecedented case and the judges on the panel, particularly the eight appointed by Democrats, signaled they were highly skeptical of the infinite powers Trump has claimed over tariff policy.

The panel did not indicate when they will issue a decision on the matter, so there is no way of telling when the Supreme Court will eventually hear Trump’s inevitable appeal. However, considering the court’s recent “major questions” jurisprudence touching President Joe Biden’s abuse of executive power on energy and higher education, the White House should begin developing an alternative path to keeping its tariff policy in place.