One of Donald Trump’s own Supreme Court appointees delivered a scathing rebuke of the president’s tariff power grab, accusing him of trying to bypass Congress and rule by impulse.
In a decision that enraged the president, America’s highest court ruled on Friday that Trump had overstepped his authority when he decided to impose widespread tariffs on countries around the globe last year.
Conservative justice Neil Gorsuch hit out at the president’s overreach, declaring that major decisions affecting Americans—“including the duty to pay taxes and tariffs”—should not be determined through “one faction or man.”
“Yes, legislating can be hard and take time. And, yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises. But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design,” Gorsuch wrote in a concurring opinion.
“Through that process, the Nation can tap the combined wisdom of the people’s elected representatives, not just that of one faction or man. There, deliberation tempers impulse, and compromise hammers disagreements into workable solutions.”
The 6-3 ruling undercut one of the biggest tools Trump has used to reshape U.S. trade and strong-arm other nations to get his way.
It also put about $200 billion of tariff revenue the administration has collected in limbo, with global companies now filing lawsuits demanding refunds.
Trump has long insisted he had the authority to use sweeping emergency powers to impose tariffs as he saw fit.
But Gorsuch’s pointed opinion reverberated across Washington, not only for calling out the president’s often unchecked power grabs, but also because the 58-year-old justice was one of the three conservatives Trump elevated to a lifetime appointment on the bench.
“For anyone putting loyalty to a person above loyalty to the Constitution, Justice Gorsuch’s remarks should be required reading,” said Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, one of the few Republicans willing to speak out against the president.
“His words are a reminder that our highest duty is to the rule of law and the founding principles that define America.
Gorsuch added that, because laws that go through Congress need broad support to survive, “they tend to endure, allowing ordinary people to plan their lives in ways they cannot when the rules shift from day to day.”
“For some today, the weight of those virtues is apparent. For others, it may not seem so obvious,” he wrote.
“But if history is any guide, the tables will turn and the day will come when those disappointed by today’s result will appreciate the legislative process for the bulwark of liberty it is.”
Gorsuch, a former federal appeals court judge from Colorado, was Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee in 2017, elevated to fill the seat left vacant after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
He was confirmed after a bitter partisan fight that led Republicans to eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees in favor of using the “nuclear option,” which allows a simple majority of 51 votes rather than the prior threshold of 60.
Another Trump appointee, Amy Coney Barrett, also voted to strike down the president’s signature tariff policy on Friday, alongside conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, and the three liberal justices of the court: Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson.
Trump was furious about the decision, launching a profanity-laced tirade when he heard the news during a governor’s working breakfast at the White House on Friday morning.
A few hours later, he called an impromptu press conference where he described the justices who ruled against him as “lap dogs,” a “disgrace to our nation,” and “disloyal to the Constitution.”
He also said he would impose an across-the-board 10 percent global tariff “effective immediately.”
“The Supreme Court’s ruling on tariffs is deeply disappointing, and I’m ashamed of certain members of the Court—absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,” he said.
But Gorsuch argued that the Constitution’s “deliberative” legislative design tempered people from impulsive overreach and forced compromise.
Friday’s ruling stemmed from Trump’s “Liberation Day” decision last April to invoke the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)—a statute historically used for targeted sanctions and economic controls in crises.
It allowed the administration to declare a national emergency to justify a suite of “reciprocal” tariffs on goods from China, Mexico, Canada, and dozens of other trading partners.
However, the court’s 6-3 decision found this was unlawful. But not everyone agreed, with conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh all dissenting.
“The tariffs at issue here may or may not be wise policy,” Kavanaugh wrote. “But as a matter of text, history, and precedent, they are clearly lawful.”
Trump, who nominated Kavanaugh to the bench, told reporters: “I’m so proud of him.”
