" All I can offer them is that most major decisions affecting the rights and responsibilities of the American people (including the duty to pay taxes and tariffs) are funneled through the legislative process for a reason. Yes, legislating can be hard and take time. And, yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises. But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design."
Justice Neil Gorsuch concurring in Learning Centers v. Trump
President Trump is learning the same way that President Harry Truman learned over 70 years ago that the power of the presidency is not unlimited. In Youngstown Sheet and Tube v. Sawyer (1952) the Supreme Court found that President Truman could not seize the steel mills under the exigency of the Korean War without the express approval of congress. Similarly the court ruled that Trump does not have the power to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) without the express approval of Congress. To be sure Trump has other tariff statutes available to him that are authorized by Congress and he is using them as we speak.
What all this means is that tariff are here to stay, but much of the recent arbitrariness of the process will be removed. There will of course be a series of court fights about how the refund process will work for those who paid the illegal tariffs. My guess is that will take time given the number of claimants and the huge dollar amount in excess of $100 billion.
Nevertheless, the bottom line is that for the first time the Supreme Court placed a real check on Trump's growing dictatorial powers. The next check will likely come when the court decides that he can't arbitrarily remove members of the Federal Reserve Board. Thus in a modest measure the framers of our constitution are being vindicated.
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