Daijiworld Media Network - Washington
Washington, Feb 21: In a significant setback to President Donald Trump, the Supreme Court of the United States on Friday struck down sweeping tariffs imposed under a law intended for use during national emergencies, ruling that the move exceeded presidential authority.
In a 6-3 decision authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court upheld a lower court’s finding that Trump’s use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to unilaterally impose tariffs was unconstitutional.
Roberts, citing a prior ruling, wrote that “the president must ‘point to clear congressional authorisation’ to justify his extraordinary assertion of the power to impose tariffs,” adding emphatically: “He cannot.”
The three dissenting justices were conservatives Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh. However, conservative justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett — both appointed by Trump during his first term — joined Roberts and the court’s three liberal justices in the majority.
The court ruled that the Trump administration’s interpretation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) as granting sweeping tariff powers intruded upon Congress’s constitutional authority and violated the “major questions” doctrine.
The doctrine, often invoked by the court’s conservative bloc, requires that executive actions of “vast economic and political significance” must be clearly authorised by Congress. The same principle had earlier been used to curb certain executive measures taken by former President Joe Biden.
The US Constitution grants Congress — not the president — the authority to levy taxes and tariffs. Despite this, Trump relied on IEEPA to impose tariffs on nearly all US trading partners without seeking congressional approval, marking the first time a president used the law in this manner.
The legal challenge was brought by businesses affected by the tariffs and 12 states, most governed by Democrats, who argued that Trump’s move represented an unprecedented expansion of executive power.
While some additional tariffs were imposed under separate statutory provisions not challenged in this case, government data from October to mid-December showed that the IEEPA-based tariffs accounted for roughly a third of the revenue generated from Trump’s tariff regime.
Trump had defended the tariffs as essential for safeguarding US economic security, arguing that without them, the country would be “defenceless and ruined.” In November, he told reporters that without his tariff measures, “the rest of the world would laugh at us,” accusing countries — including China — of taking advantage of the United States for years.
The ruling marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing debate over executive authority and trade policy, with far-reaching implications for the global economy and the balance of power between the White House and Congress.