President Donald Trump on Friday called the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down many of his tariffs “a disgrace,” reacting sharply to a ruling that dismantled a central piece of his second-term economic agenda. Trump made the remark while hosting a White House breakfast meeting with state governors, reports BBC, citing a source.
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that a 1977 law intended to address national emergencies did not give Trump the authority to impose most of the tariffs he enacted on countries worldwide. The decision marks the first time the court has overturned one of Trump’s policies since his return to office.
The administration had relied on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify the tariffs, arguing that the law allowed the president to regulate international economic transactions during a national emergency. But the court said the Constitution gives Congress — not the president — the power to levy taxes and tariffs.
In its majority opinion, the court wrote that the framers of the Constitution “recognized the unique importance of this taxing power – a power which ‘very clear[ly]’ includes the power to impose tariffs”.
“And they gave Congress ‘alone … access to the pockets of the people,” the opinion reads. “The Framers did not vest any part of the taxing power in the executive branch.”
The court also invoked the “major questions doctrine,” which limits the executive branch from using broadly worded laws to justify sweeping actions without clear congressional approval.
“These considerations apply with particular force where, as here, the purported delegation involves the core congressional power of the purse,” the court said. “When Congress has delegated its tariff powers, it has done so in explicit terms and subject to strict limits.”
Because of this, the president “must ‘point to clear congressional authorization’ to justify his extraordinary assertion of that power”, the court said. “He cannot.”
The court noted that the White House acknowledged the president “enjoys no inherent authority to impose tariffs during peacetime,” which is why it turned to IEEPA.
Voting to strike down the tariffs were Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, along with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. In dissent, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the ruling “is not likely to greatly restrict presidential tariff authority going forward” because Trump may have relied on the wrong statute.
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