Rick Woldenberg, CEO of Learning Resources, arrives at the U.S. Supreme Court building on November 5, 2025 in Washington.
Eric Lee | Bloomberg | Getty Images
“We’re thrilled to be on the right side of history here,” the CEO of Learning Resources said Friday after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of his educational toy company’s challenge to the legality of President Donald Trump’s unilateral tariff policies.
“We felt like we were championing all the important things,” CEO Rick Woldenberg said in an interview on CNBC’s “Money Movers.”
“Obviously I feel vindicated and vindicated,” Woldenberg said in his first interview after the ruling Friday morning, after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Learning Resources’ favor. The court found that President Trump’s tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were illegal.
“We believed it was an illegal tax,” he said.
“I believe the Supreme Court has adopted the arguments we made in April. And, you know, I’m excited about that. I’m also excited to uphold that the rule of law applies equally to everyone in our country.”
Mr. Woldenberg scoffed at the Trump administration’s warning that it would be burdensome for the government to have to return more than an estimated $175 billion already collected under illegal tariffs.
“They are very good at extorting money from us,” he said. “I think they had to reverse gears and send it back.”
Waldenberg also predicted that “the tariff reversal would not require Congress to introduce it and would function as a stimulus bill.”
“It’s a lot of money that’s going to be injected into the economy, and growth is likely to accelerate,” he said.
