Court gives Trump a bloody nose and a lesson in the limits of presidential power
Washington: Nearly a year ago, after Donald Trump addressed Congress in a State of the Union-like address, he shook the hand of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and said: “Thank you. Thank you again. I won’t forget.”
There was much speculation at the time that Trump thought Roberts’ majority decision in 2024 would give him broad immunity from criminal prosecution as president.
Trump denied he meant it; He said he thanked Roberts for swearing in him at the inauguration, but he had plenty to thank Roberts for. The conservative majority in the field has been kind to Trump and his sweeping agenda that pushes the limits of presidential power.
That is, until now. In a 6-3 decision on Friday (Washington time), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Trump’s signature “Independence Day” tariffs on the grounds that Trump lacked the authority to impose the tariffs using his emergency powers.
The decision undermines the president’s economic agenda and leaves the US federal government facing repayment demands totaling US$160 billion ($226 billion). But more than that, it reveals Trump’s overstepping of presidential authority and represents the biggest obstacle to his power to date.
The decision was obviously not personal, but Trump seemed to handle the situation that way, as he often does. Trump said the court’s Democratic-appointed judges were “an embarrassment to our nation.”
Others were “politically correct” and served as “idiots and lapdogs” for RINOS [Republicans in name only] and radical left Democrats…they are profoundly unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution.”
However, Trump gave his harshest decision to judges Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, whom he appointed in his first term and who ruled that the tariffs were unlawful. He claimed their families would be embarrassed.
He clearly felt betrayed. “You can’t shake their loyalty,” Trump said of Democratic-appointed judges. “This is something you can do with some of our people.”
Since returning to power, Trump has brought together various Washington institutions—the Kennedy Center, the National Capital Planning Commission, and the Fine Arts Commission—that have now become his fiefdoms. Clearly, he shares the same expectations for “our people” at the nation’s supreme court.
The president offered conspiracy theories about why the court ruled the way it did. He said it was “driven by foreign interests and a much smaller political movement than people might think,” apparently referring to Democrats and the left wing.
“I don’t know if the justices could have been deceived by fear or respect or friendship,” Trump said. At another point, he said, they might have been “serving food to a group of people.” [Washington] DC” – possibly a reference to the city’s union of free trade advocates.
The power of the presidency is not absolute, although it may sometimes feel that way.
Angry, Trump was quick to respond to reporters and refused to take questions from some people. “I’m not talking to CNN, this is fake news,” he said, pointing to the network’s White House correspondent Kristen Holmes.
Trump seemed genuinely surprised that the court would rule that way — and, to be fair, as Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in his dissenting opinion, the idea that a president couldn’t block and tariff imports from a country under emergency laws sounds perverse.
However, the decision is no surprise.
Skeptical questions from the justices at a hearing last year suggested it likely wouldn’t be the slam-dunk victory for the government that Trump thinks it should be. And we know that the administration has been preparing for this certain outcome for months.
Indeed, Trump had a solution ready to implement: a 10 percent global tariff, enacted for 150 days using the Trade Act and required to be extended by Congress.
This now looks like Trump’s next big political test, and he’ll need the votes of the “RINOs” he disdained at the podium on Friday.
In its decision, the Supreme Court showed that, despite a conservative majority, Trump’s leniency in the immunity ruling, and the rhetoric of a pleading panel in some quarters, this is still a serious guardrail in American democracy.
The system may still function as intended. The power of the presidency is not absolute, although it may sometimes feel that way.
This was the harsh lesson given to Trump. And that explains why he was so upset by this decision, even though he believed he could generate the same amount (if not more) of revenue by imposing tariffs in other ways.
Get notes directly from our foreign correspondents on events making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What’s on in the World Newsletter.
Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political correspondent in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
