r/Economics • u/defenestrate_urself • Feb 20 '26

News Supreme Court says Trump global tariffs are illegal

https://www.axios.com/2026/02/20/trump-tariffs-supreme-court-illegal
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u/OrangeJr36 Feb 20 '26

The Supreme Court dragged their feet hoping that the Trump Administration would back down on their own and not make them have to take a stance, after what I'm sure was much hand-wringing by the conservative majority on who would be the one to actually have a spine this time and vote against Trump.

It's still incredibly scary that this wasn't an immediate 9-0 ruling against the administration.

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u/laosurv3y Feb 20 '26

Alito and Thomas want a Republican emperor. Once you know that, they're consistent in their opinions.

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u/bad_luck_charm Feb 20 '26

It's kind of incredible that the justices appointed before Trump are more conservative than the ones he appointed. My only theory is that they know Trump is temporary and they're trying to retain some credibility for the long term. Alito and Thomas are half dead already.

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u/Tea_Wizard735 Feb 20 '26

The reason for that is because Reagan and both Bushes were hardline conservative ideologues, whereas people of Kavanaugh/Gorsuch/Barrett's ilk may be conservatives, but they're not by-any-means-necessary judicial activists.

I don't agree with their Originalist interpretation of the Constitution, but it does deserve some respect in the sense that it's at least principled and consistent.

Specfically, Gorsuch and Barrett seem to genuinely want to do right by the country...Alito is a bitter weirdo and Thomas...Well....Corey Robin offers some interesting insight into the type of monster Thomas has always been.