Democrats rejoice in Supreme Court rebuke of Trump tariffs

Congressional Democrats rejoiced on Friday and Republicans remained divided in the wake of a momentous Supreme Court decision striking down a large portion of President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda.

“Trump’s chaotic and illegal tariff tax made life more expensive and our economy more unstable. Families paid more. Small businesses and farmers got squeezed. Markets swung wildly,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement after the decision. “We’ve said from day one: a president cannot ignore Congress and unilaterally slap tariffs on Americans. That overreach failed.”

The ruling is a major hit to Trump, who used a novel reading of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to slap a barrage of tariffs on American trading partners. Tariffs and the economy more broadly will be a key messaging issue for Democrats on the campaign trail for this year’s midterm elections. Primaries start next month leading up to the November general election.

The Supreme Court decision sets up additional potential showdowns in Congress over how to handle Trump’s trade war after the U.S. House voted last week to overturn tariffs on Canada.

For Republicans, Trump’s tariffs, which have proven largely unpopular in a pivotal election year, are a more complicated issue.

“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,” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, posted to X. 

“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!” Moreno continued.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has voted with Democrats in opposition to Trump’s tariffs, celebrated the decision. He and other opponents of the trade policy have argued that it is Congress, not the president, that has the constitutional authority to enact taxes and tariffs.

“In defense of our Republic, the Supreme Court struck down using emergency powers to enact taxes,” Paul posted on X. “This ruling will also prevent a future President such as AOC from using emergency powers to enact socialism.”

The court ruled a little over a week after a small group of House Republicans joined most of their Democratic colleagues to overturn Trump’s 35% tariff of Canada, though the resolution was largely symbolic since it would require approval from the Senate and the White House to take effect.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., one of the six Republicans who voted to overturn the tariffs, called the decision “a common-sense and straightforward ruling by the Supreme Court.”

“The Constitution’s checks and balances still work. Article One gives tariff authority to Congress,” Bacon wrote on X. “In the future, Congress should defend its own authorities and not rely on the Supreme Court.”

Some Democrats suggested Trump would look for other mechanism to impose tariffs, while some Republicans said that he should do so.

“Good news today. The Supreme Court has struck down many of Trump’s tariffs. Sadly, this President is absolutely dedicated to making you pay these taxes. He’s going to try other ways to keep them in place,” Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said in a post to X. “I will continue voting to block Trump’s reckless tariffs in the Senate.”

In the House, Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., touted his legislation, dubbed the RELIEF Act, that would trigger tariff refunds to small businesses.

“These taxes stole money from working families and small businesses who were forced to pay them from the very beginning. Now, it’s time to start repairing the economic damage these Trump taxes have caused,” Horsford posted to X.

The legislation is symbolic because its success would require significant Republican buy-in in the GOP-controlled House and Senate. And many allies of Trump suggested the Supreme Court decision would not be the end of the president’s tariff agenda.