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Supreme Court Finally Checks Trump

The president's ire is fueling his flailing response

Dan Rather and Team Steady Feb 23

Credit: Getty Images

Before Donald Trump tries to convince you otherwise on Tuesday night, the state of our union is appalling. That’s not just me saying so; a majority of the American people say so too.

If you believe the polls — and they are remarkably consistent on this — this president is in a lot of trouble. He’s underwater on every issue, especially the economy, and his disapproval rating is hovering around 60%.

It is difficult to understand why roughly 40% of the American people are still buying the unrelenting nonsense and lies coming from this White House. But we’ve seen it before. During Richard Nixon’s final days in office, his approval rating was in the low 30s. Even criminal presidents can count on an unwavering base of support.

So, can Trump go lower? Yes. And he will only have himself to blame, though he seems to be incapable of such introspection.

Even after the Supreme Court handed him a seismic defeat on tariffs on Friday, he has not acquiesced. Instead of shifting gears, Trump is performing his signature move: the double down.

Trump immediately announced he plans to impose a 10% global tariff under a different statute than the one the Court recently struck down. In true Trump fashion, he quickly upped it to a 15% tariff across-the-board. Like the old ones, these new tariffs will be challenged in court.

Polls suggest that many Americans are paying close attention to tariffs, Trump’s signature economic policy, blaming him and the tariffs for rising prices everywhere. Many Republicans running in November breathed a sign of relief after the Supreme Court decision, but that relief will likely be short-lived.

Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and former Trump State Department official, thinks the president can’t see the ocean for the waves. “It’s very possible that the Supreme Court just threw Trump’s economy a life preserver, and the president is refusing it and demanding an anchor. These tariffs economically have not played well into the affordability narrative,” he told Politico.

Ah, that pesky affordability narrative. President Joe Biden ran into the same problem. On paper, the economy looks good. But no matter how well the stock market is doing, or GDP is growing, if you can’t afford to put a proper dinner on the table or buy medicine for your kids, it is meaningless.

What was made manifestly clear in the 2024 presidential election, Americans vote with their pocketbooks in mind, not their stock portfolios.

Friday’s Supreme Court decision was more than a possible life preserver for Trump. It was one for the history books, for several reasons.

In the 6-3 decision, Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch, both appointed by the president, joined Chief Justice John Roberts and the Court’s three liberal justices in rejecting the Trump tariffs. It was one of the first times the Court displayed judicial independence and imposed a real check on Trump’s blatant power grab, directing him to stay in his constitutional lane.

For the first time during Trump’s second term, the Court issued a merits decision, one that was based solely on the legality of the president’s executive actions.

This striking rebuke of the president is a 180-degree turn from what has essentially been a rubber stamp for many of Trump’s policies. Is the Court actually turning a corner? Perhaps.

Friday’s ruling came two months after the Court’s decision in Trump v. Illinois, where it denied the Trump administration’s request to stay a lower court injunction, blocking the federal deployment of National Guard troops in Illinois.

Though no decision has been issued yet, during oral arguments in Trump v. Cook, a case challenging Trump’s firing of Federal Reserve Board governor Lisa Cook, most of the justices seem skeptical of the government’s arguments.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, appointed by Trump in 2017, has been described by the Los Angeles Times as “a wild card,” who tends “to go his own way.” On Friday, he sided with the majority while also writing a concurring opinion, in which he took his fellow conservative justices to task for their dissent.

In the dissenting opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh claimed that, “Presidents have long been granted substantial discretion over tariffs.”

Gorsuch disagreed, pointing to the founding of our country. “Americans fought the Revolution in no small part because they believed that only their elected representatives (not the King, not even Parliament) possessed authority to tax them… Americans later codified these beliefs in the Constitution,” he wrote.

He went on, “For those who think it important for the nation to impose more tariffs, I understand that today’s decision will be disappointing. 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.”

It is about time someone reminded Congress of its constitutional duties. Trump’s executive overreach can be stopped, as demonstrated by this Supreme Court decision. It will take more decisions like this one and more members of Congress stepping up and telling the president no. Their jobs, and our country, depend on it.

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Stay Steady,
Dan