The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that President Donald Trump violated federal law when he unilaterally imposed sweeping tariffs across the globe, a striking loss for the White House on an issue that has been central to the president’s foreign policy and economic agenda. The tariffs were a cornerstone of Trump’s economic policies and were imposed on virtually every U.S. trading partner. Various studies said the tariffs were costing every U.S. consumer thousands of dollars in higher prices.
In addition to actually imposing higher tariffs on trading partners, Trump used the threat of higher tariffs as a negotiating tactic.He claimed he had the power to impose tariffs on his own through the 1977 law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
The decision appears to be the most important loss the second Trump administration has sustained at the conservative Supreme Court, which last year repeatedly sided with the president in a series of emergency rulings on immigration, the firing of the leaders of independent agencies and deep cuts to government spending.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion and the court agreed 6-3 that the tariffs exceeded the law. The justices who sided with Trump were Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.
The court’s decision did not address whether the billions in tariffs that have already been illegally collected by Trump’s administration must be refunded.
Back row, left to right: Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Credit: Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States
“The president asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope,” Roberts wrote for the court. “In light of the breadth, history, and constitutional context of that asserted authority, he must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it.”
The emergency authority Trump attempted to rely on, the court said, “falls short.”
Three lawsuits that had been filed challenging Trump’s tariffs were consolidated by the Supreme Court for purposes of hearing oral arguments. The cases included one filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, and other state attorneys general.
The decision says, “The Framers (of the Constitution) gave ‘Congress alone’ the power to impose tariffs during peacetime. … And the foreign affairs implications of tariffs do not make it any more likely that Congress would relinquish its tariff power through vague language, or without careful limits. Accordingly, the President must ‘point to clear congressional authorization’ to justify his extraordinary assertion of that power. … He cannot.”
Justice Roberts wrote about presidential powers saying, in part, “Absent from this lengthy list of specific powers is any mention of tariffs or duties. Had Congress intended to convey the distinct and extraordinary power to impose tariffs, it would have done so expressly, as it consistently has in other tariff statutes.”
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