WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs are illegal, upending one of the president’s key policies.
The 6-3 decision held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the imposition of tariffs during peacetime without clear congressional authorization, reaffirming that tariff powers belong to Congress.
“The International Emergency Economic Powers Act authorizes the President to ‘regulate importation or exportation’ during a declared national emergency,” the justices said. “Nothing in IEEPA’s text mentions tariffs, duties, or taxes.”
Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.
During hearings in November, the judges appeared to question the legality of the tariffs.
Lower courts have already ruled that Trump “overstepped his authority” in imposing the reciprocal tariffs on imports from most of the United States’ foreign trade partners.
These courts sided with the case, which was brought by businesses hit with tariffs in a dozen states, that Trump could not use the 1977 IEEPA law to impose the tariffs, which led the Trump administration to appeal.
“The Court says nothing today about whether, and if so how, the Government should go about returning the billions of dollars that it has collected from importers. But that process is likely to be a ‘mess,’ as was acknowledged at oral argument,” Kavanaugh wrote.
President Trump has argued extensively that the tariffs case is one of the most important for the nation and has made regular posts on social media about the arguments, calling on justices to rule in his favor.
Early January, Trump said he hopes the Supreme Court “does the right thing” when it comes to tariffs.
“We’re getting rich because of tariffs, by the way,” Trump said Tuesday at a retreat with House Republicans. “I hope everyone understands that. They hate to report. We’ll have over $650 billion poured into our country, or coming in shortly, because of tariffs.”
Federal data as of December shows the Treasury has collected more than $133 billion from the import taxes.
In an interview with The National News Desk, former U.S. attorney John Fishwick suggested that the court might strike down the tariffs, as Trump needs to prevail on several legal issues, including the appropriate delegation of power by Congress under a 1977 law.
Fishwick said, “If I have to read the tea leaves here, I think the Supreme Court is going to strike down the tariffs.”
Normally, a major decision like this would not be expected until May or June. But the Supreme Court expedited the case so it could be argued last November, which left speculation that the justices would put out the decision sooner than expected.
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