Delivering a major blow to President Donald Trump’s signature economic policy, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday struck down most of the president’s sweeping global tariffs.
The nation’s highest court ruled in a 6-3 decision that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, does not authorize the president to impose tariffs.
“IEEPA contains no reference to tariffs or duties. The Government points to no statute in which Congress used the word ‘regulate’ to authorize taxation. And until now no President has read IEEPA to confer such power,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.
“We claim no special competence in matters of economics or foreign affairs. We claim only, as we must, the limited role assigned to us by Article III of the Constitution,” he continued. “Fulfilling that role, we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”
Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch joined with Roberts along with the three liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, while Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.
“The tariffs at issue here may or may not be wise policy. But as a matter of text, history, and precedent, they are clearly lawful,” Kavanaugh wrote in his dissenting opinion.
The court’s decision does not address whether the more than $130 billion in tariffs that has already been collected should be refunded, with Kavanaugh predicting “that process is likely to be a ‘mess.'”
Based on the latest data, the majority of U.S. tariff revenue generated last year came from the IEEPA duties.
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