Feb 20, 2026 07:27 PM
(This post was last modified: Feb 20, 2026 07:31 PM by Magical Realist.)
Booyah! Businesses across the US are celebrating the news!
WASHINGTON — "The Supreme Court delivered a major blow to President Donald Trump, ruling Friday that he exceeded his authority when imposing sweeping tariffs using a law reserved for a national emergency.
The justices, divided 6-3, held that Trump's aggressive approach to tariffs on products entering the United States from across the world was not permitted under a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
The ruling invalidates many, but not all, of Trump’s tariffs. He could still seek to reimpose some tariffs using other laws.
The White House had no immediate comment on the ruling, but announced that Trump would give a press conference at 12:45 p.m. ET. Trump had been speaking to a room of governors at the White House when he was handed a note with the ruling. He called it a “disgrace,” according to two people familiar with his reaction, and left. He also said he had a backup plan, one of those people said.
As recently as Thursday, Trump bemoaned the possibility of the tariffs being struck down.
“Without tariffs, this country would be in such trouble right now,” he said.
Despite Trump's rhetoric, stocks rallied on news of the ruling.
The ruling was authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, who was joined by three liberal justices and two fellow conservatives, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, in the majority.
"The president asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration and scope," Roberts wrote. But the Trump administration "points to no statute" in which Congress has previously said that the language in IEEPA could apply to tariffs, he added.
As such, "we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs," Roberts wrote.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito dissented.
It is a rare setback for the administration at the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, since Trump began his second term in January.
Business owners who had to pay the tariffs and challenged them in court expressed relief at the ruling.
"These new tariffs were arbitrary, unpredictable, and bad business," Victor Schwartz, who runs New York-based wine and spirits importer VOS Selections, said in a statement.
"Thankfully, courts at every level recognized these duties for what they were: unconstitutional government overreach," he added.
The decision does not affect all of Trump's tariffs, leaving in place ones he imposed on steel and aluminum using different laws, for example. But it upends his tariffs in two categories. One is country-by-country or “reciprocal” tariffs, which range from 34% for China to a 10% baseline for the rest of the world. The other is a 25% tariff Trump imposed on some goods from Canada, China and Mexico for what the administration said was their failure to curb the flow of fentanyl."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme...rcna244827
WASHINGTON — "The Supreme Court delivered a major blow to President Donald Trump, ruling Friday that he exceeded his authority when imposing sweeping tariffs using a law reserved for a national emergency.
The justices, divided 6-3, held that Trump's aggressive approach to tariffs on products entering the United States from across the world was not permitted under a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
The ruling invalidates many, but not all, of Trump’s tariffs. He could still seek to reimpose some tariffs using other laws.
The White House had no immediate comment on the ruling, but announced that Trump would give a press conference at 12:45 p.m. ET. Trump had been speaking to a room of governors at the White House when he was handed a note with the ruling. He called it a “disgrace,” according to two people familiar with his reaction, and left. He also said he had a backup plan, one of those people said.
As recently as Thursday, Trump bemoaned the possibility of the tariffs being struck down.
“Without tariffs, this country would be in such trouble right now,” he said.
Despite Trump's rhetoric, stocks rallied on news of the ruling.
The ruling was authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, who was joined by three liberal justices and two fellow conservatives, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, in the majority.
"The president asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration and scope," Roberts wrote. But the Trump administration "points to no statute" in which Congress has previously said that the language in IEEPA could apply to tariffs, he added.
As such, "we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs," Roberts wrote.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito dissented.
It is a rare setback for the administration at the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, since Trump began his second term in January.
Business owners who had to pay the tariffs and challenged them in court expressed relief at the ruling.
"These new tariffs were arbitrary, unpredictable, and bad business," Victor Schwartz, who runs New York-based wine and spirits importer VOS Selections, said in a statement.
"Thankfully, courts at every level recognized these duties for what they were: unconstitutional government overreach," he added.
The decision does not affect all of Trump's tariffs, leaving in place ones he imposed on steel and aluminum using different laws, for example. But it upends his tariffs in two categories. One is country-by-country or “reciprocal” tariffs, which range from 34% for China to a 10% baseline for the rest of the world. The other is a 25% tariff Trump imposed on some goods from Canada, China and Mexico for what the administration said was their failure to curb the flow of fentanyl."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme...rcna244827
