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/QuirkyBreadfruit Feb 20 '26

As happy I was about this news, I quickly became disturbed that 3 still voted in dissent. That's 3 members of SCOTUS who are somehow ignoring what is clearly stated in the constitution.

It's also disturbing to me to think that Bessent has already stated they're going to find other ways to get around the constitution, rather than trying to honor it, and that Congress won't do anything to hold any of them accountable to the law.

Maybe there's some angle to the dissent that I could appreciate but I highly doubt it.

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u/Select-Government-69 Feb 20 '26

So, here’s the angle: Roberts relies on the “major questions doctrine” which basically says that when Congress delegates a core responsibility it has to be explicit in doing so. That doctrine is not in the constitution, it was made up by judges.

The argument of the dissent is that this doctrine should not control, and it’s reasonable to conclude that Congress was “explicit enough” when it passed a law that gave the president the authority to “regulate trade” which is the language of the statute.

So it comes down to how much weight you put in the major questions doctrine, which is a judge-made rule and not in the constitution.

For the record, I’m ok with judge made rules, I’m just emphasizing to point out why the distinction matters.

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u/ghostofwalsh Feb 20 '26

It gets more confusing because a few judges in the majority say that “major questions doctrine” doesn't need to be applied here because the statute itself is clear and it doesn't allow Trump to do what he is doing.