by WorldTribune Staff, February 20, 2026 Real World News
The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that President Donald Trump does not have authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose sweeping tariffs.
By a vote of 6-3, the justices ruled that the tariffs exceed the powers given to the president by Congress under the 1977 law providing him the authority to regulate commerce during national emergencies created by foreign threats.
In a press conference following the decision, Trump said the ruling is “deeply disappointing,” adding he is “ashamed” of certain members of the court. However he stated his tariff policy had been strengthened by the decision.
In a response to a reporter’s question, the president said he knew the parties who filed the suit that led to the decision and said their “China-centric” case was not in the interests of the United States.
However Trump emphasized that the decision eliminated “uncertainty” about tariff powers that had not been exercised, he said, in decades.
He thanked and congratulated the dissenting justices, and said that the country was proud of them.
“Foreign countries that have been ripping us off for years are ecstatic,” said Trump, who then added: “We have other options.”
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.
Kavanaugh pointed out that Trump has many other options for imposing tariffs going forward, writing:
“Although I firmly disagree with the Court’s holding today, the decision might not substantially constrain a President’s ability to order tariffs going forward. That is because numerous other federal statutes authorize the President to impose tariffs and might justify most (if not all) of the tariffs at issue in this case—albeit perhaps with a few additional procedural steps that IEEPA, as an emergency statute, does not require. Those statutes include, for example, the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Section 232); the Trade Act of 1974 (Sections 122, 201, and 301); and the Tariff Act of 1930 (Section 338). 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.”
In Friday’s ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: “IEEPA contains no reference to tariffs or duties.” Moreover, “until now no President has read IEEPA to confer such power.”
In a part of the opinion joined by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, Roberts said that Trump’s reliance on IEEPA to impose the tariffs violated the “major questions” doctrine – the idea that if Congress wants to delegate the power to make decisions of vast economic or political significance, it must do so clearly.
“When Congress has delegated its tariff powers,” Roberts said, “it has done so in explicit terms, and subject to strict limits,” a test, he said, that Trump’s tariffs failed.
Ohio Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno wrote in a post to X: “SCOTUS’s outrageous ruling handcuffs our fight against unfair trade that has devastated American workers for decades. These tariffs protected jobs, revived manufacturing, and forced cheaters like China to pay up. Now globalists win, factories investments may reverse, and American workers lose again. This betrayal must be reversed and Republicans must get to work immediately on a reconciliation bill to codify the tariffs that had made our country the hottest country on earth!”
President Trump posted the following on social media on Feb. 20, 2026:
In actuality, while I am sure they did not mean to do so, the Supreme Court’s decision today made a President’s ability to both regulate Trade, and impose TARIFFS, more powerful and crystal clear, rather than less. There will no longer be any doubt, and the Income coming in, and the protection of our Companies and Country, will actually increase because of this decision. Based on longstanding Law and Hundreds of Victories to the contrary, the Supreme Court did not overrule TARIFFS, they merely overruled a particular use of IEEPA TARIFFS. The ability to block, embargo, restrict, license, or impose any other condition on a Foreign Country’s ability to conduct Trade with the United States under IEEPA, has been fully confirmed by this decision. In order to protect our Country, a President can actually charge more TARIFFS than I was charging in the past under the various other TARIFF authorities, which have also been confirmed, and fully allowed.
Therefore, effective immediately, all National Security TARIFFS, Section 232 and existing Section 301 TARIFFS, remain in place, and in full force and effect. Today I will sign an Order to impose a 10% GLOBAL TARIFF, under Section 122, over and above our normal TARIFFS already being charged, and we are also initiating several Section 301 and other Investigations to protect our Country from unfair Trading practices. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
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