The Supreme Court Keeps the Taxing Power with Congress

The Editors, National Review, Feb 21, 2026 - Donald Trump is the duly elected president, and whatever one thinks of the wisdom of his views of trade and tariff policy, he is entitled to exercise the full powers of the presidency. What he is not entitled to do is exercise the full powers of Congress — ....

That, and only that, is the rebuke a 6–3 Supreme Court delivered to the president Friday morning. .. he can’t keep imposing tariffs under the “emergency” powers granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA). ... An emergency that is permanent and worldwide is a power so unlimited, it is hard with a straight face to believe any Congress would grant it — ...

Presidents may well have broad emergency powers to impose tariffs and trade embargoes during wartime. ... But Trump’s own solicitor general conceded that the Trump tariffs at issue rested only on IEEPA, not on war powers. As Chief Justice John Roberts’s opinion acridly noted: “The United States, after all, is not at war with every nation in the world.” ...

The Court was faithful to the same principles it repeatedly cited to constrain Biden on student loans, the eviction moratorium, the workplace vaccine mandate, and carbon emission rules. That means the Court is doing its job — which is why progressives hate it. The right should not sing from that hymnal. (read it all)

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