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Donald Trump launched a fierce critique of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Friday after they invalidated a significant portion of his tariffs.
In an urgent press briefing, Trump condemned the nation’s top court, labeling it a ‘disgrace to our nation’ and accused the justices of yielding to ‘foreign interests.’
Expressing his discontent, Trump claimed that certain conservative justices lack the ‘loyalty’ seen in those appointed by Democratic presidents.
He suggested he might resort to ‘powerful alternatives’ to his tariffs to ensure the United States gains more financially from international dealings, announcing his intention to implement a 10 percent global tariff following his address.
‘We have alternatives,’ he emphasized. ‘These are great options – potentially bringing in more revenue and making us significantly stronger.’
Three conservative justices joined all three liberals on the panel to rule against Trump on Friday, handing down a 6-3 decision that rebuked one of the president’s biggest economic proposals of his second term.
‘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,’ the president said in the press briefing room.
‘It’s my opinion that the court has been swayed by foreign interests and a political movement that is far smaller than people would ever think,’ he added.
President Donald trump sneered as he tore into his 6-3 conservative Supreme Court after it ruled against his tariffs on Friday
Trump lamented that the decision is nonsensical, claiming that the Court essentially admitted that he can do anything he wants as president other than charge other countries tariffs for US goods.
‘I’m allowed to destroy the country, but I can’t charge them a little fee,’ Trump complained.
‘I can do anything I want to do to them, but I can’t charge any money.’
The president was meeting with members of the National Governors Association on Friday when the ruling came down.
Despite the Court’s rightward lean, two justices that Trump appointed – Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett – joined Chief Justice John Roberts to rule against him.
Meanwhile, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the third Trump appointee, penned the dissent. He was joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.
Wall Street celebrated a stock market spike that resulted from the tariff ruling as Trump tore into the decision.
In the majority opinion, penned by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court said Trump did not have the authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to impose tariffs.
Trump had used the law as a legal footing for his widespread tariff policy, which he boasted would enrich the nation.
In the press briefing room, Trump said that he would sign a new order on Friday to impose a 10 percent global tariff that wasn’t blocked by the Supreme Court.
An estimated $175 billion in tariff revenue is at stake, according to the Penn-Wharton Budget Model, Reuters reported.
On April 2, he celebrated ‘Liberation Day,’ announcing reciprocal tariffs on nations around the globe – even on uninhabited islands.
The President used the justification that there was a national emergency due to trade deficits and national security threats.
As he entered office last year, he imposed tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China over fentanyl flooding into the U.S.
Trump also used tariffs to threaten other countries, such as dangling a 25 percent tariff on Indian imports due to the country continuing to buy Russian oil.
But Roberts, who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, wrote in the ruling that if Congress had intended to allow the President the ‘distinct and extraordinary power to impose tariffs, it would have done so expressly – as it consistently has in other tariff statutes.’
The Chief Justice said that the ‘president must ‘point to clear congressional authorization’ to justify his extraordinary assertion of the power to impose tariffs.’
‘He cannot,’ Roberts said.
President Donald Trump holds up his list of reciprocal tariffs imposed on ‘Liberation Day’ on April 2
Traders work the floor on Friday as the Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump’s widespread tariff policy
For months, Trump has publicly pushed the high court to rule in his favor, even flirting with coming to the Court’s chambers to watch oral arguments.
‘If we don’t win that case, we will be a weakened, troubled financial mess for many, many years to come,’ Trump said in October. ‘I don’t even know if it is survivable. That’s why I think I’m going to the Supreme Court to watch it. I’ve not done that. And I’ve had some pretty big cases.’
Trump ended up not viewing oral arguments, which critics suggested could have raised constitutional questions related to the separation of powers.
But the President had the benefit of a conservative majority, having appointed three Supreme Court Justices in his first term – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
President Donald Trump was entertaining members of the National Governors Association when the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling came down. He had already kicked out members of the press, through CNN reported that he reacted by calling the ruling a ‘disgrace’
Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch (upper left) ruled with the liberal wing of the Court against President Donald Trump. Justice Brett Kavanaugh (second from right), a Trump appointee, wrote the dissent. Chief Justice John Roberts (center, first row) penned the ruling
Despite the Court’s 6-3 rightward lean, Gorsuch and Barrett ruled against the President on Friday, while Kavanaugh penned the dissent.
Kavanaugh, joined by conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, suggested that Trump could use a different law to impose his tariff agenda.
‘In essence, the Court today concludes that the President checked the wrong statutory box by relying on IEEPA rather than another statute to impose these tariffs,’ Kavanaugh wrote.
The decision also said Trump could seek Congressional authorization.
Trump still retains a Republican majority in the House and the Senate, ahead of this year’s midterm races. Still, he’d likely need to strike a deal with Senate Democrats to get any tariff legislation across the line.
While the Court gave the administration those avenues to explore, it did not deal in the decision with how to handle tariff refunds.
That battle will likely play out in the lower courts.