Supreme Court Decision Returns Power of the Purse to Congress
With a single court decision by the Supreme Court, Donald Trump and his constant threat of tariffs was ended. The decision was in a court that rarely rules in favor of the worker, where a number of judges were appointed by Trump, 3 in his first term when he assumed power without a majority. It was a 6 to 3 decision.
That is what makes this ruling so remarkable.
“The blockbuster Supreme Court ruling that invalidated President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs ends one chapter of economic uncertainty….”
“Even as the nation’s high court determined Friday that the president had exceeded his authority by slapping tariffs on goods from just about every country in the world, Trump made clear at a White House news conference that he was determined to do so again, though this time within the bounds of the law.”
“The justices’ 6-3 ruling said the president did not have the authority under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose a vast array of import levies on goods from nearly all of the nation’s trading partners.”
Washington Post 2 22 2026
All the Supreme said was taxation was the responsibility of Congress; Congress holds the purse strings of government. As tariffs are a form of taxes; taxes on imports, Congress has to be where tariffs start and stop.
Immediately following the ruling Trump raised global taxes 15%. It is like cutting off your nose to sprite your face.
The next question is how to pay back the tariffs already taken in, 134 billion dollars, which will have to be paid back to the importers who paid tax in the first place. Given they are all American based brokers, or American companies, they don’t have far to go.
Trump has promised to use court to delay reimbursing the importers he tariffed, who are now all clamoring for their money back.
The tax man has been rebuked; his constant threats of tariffs now will take months to come in effect, instead of a social media post of a shout on an airplane to a reporter.
Congress is the responsible party when taxes rise. They never fall, even in periods of prosperity. Nevertheless they are still in control, and reminded us they had the power to use the court to clip Don’s wings. Without tax threats Don is a loud voice with no real clout behind him.
““The President asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope,” Roberts wrote. “In light of the breadth, history, and constitutional context of that asserted authority, he must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it.””
“Trump cannot, Roberts wrote.”
“Roberts pointed out IEEPA made no mention of tariffs and that he could find little in the law to authorize such massive levies, writing bluntly: “Those words cannot bear such weight.”
“He also said Trump’s move ran afoul of the “major questions doctrine,” a rule the court has enunciated in recent years that holds that any presidential action that has major economic or political ramifications must have explicit authorization by Congress.”
“The stakes of the ruling are enormous: The tariffs affect trillions of dollars in trade, and the government collected nearly $134 billion in levies through Dec. 14 under the authority challenged in the case.”
Washington Post ibid.
Perhaps they have been saving the 134 billion dollars, in case something like this happened? Otherwise it means more taxes on top of what is paid the importer, considering the consumer paid the bulk of the taxes, the tariffs taxes on imports.
Expect export commodities value to fall, as the tariffs made their value higher than what they would have been without the tax. BYD vs Ford is not here yet, but is getting closer.
Without protectionism it is questionable how many nonmetric products will be competitive in the world market. With the declining value of the dollar nominally more will have to be paid by the consumer for the same product, inflation. Exports were balanced with heavy taxation on competitors’ products, to make American products more competitive.
The global tax of 15% he has now levied for 150 days seems less personal than the normal tariff for Dons crotchets. This one is not directed at a single competitor, rather the whole world market. It sort of admits non metric production will never be able to compete in the world market.
Some of the tariffs were on Cuba, the other country adjacent to Mar a Lago, Trump’s palace. He cut off their oil,will he return the tariff money now illegal?
How embarrassing. The taxman, who raised everyone’s taxes by heavily taxing imports, now has to contend with Congress. What happens if Don tries to use tariffs again? Will the Supreme Court change their mind? Will they have too? They made it crystal clear taxes are Congress’s responsibility, and Trump is president, not congress.
We will be in for an interesting spectacle when the 134 billion dollars have to be paid back. They could devalue the currency further, another 10% next year as this makes the debt normally worth less in real labor time. This surplus value has already been paid for by the consumer in the form of higher prices. Now another 134 billion on top of this?
It’s that or the capitalist is honest enough to lower the prices on his goods due to being repaid the tariff. This scenario looks unlikely.
In the end this exercise results in massive inflation, the price of everything has been going through the roof under Don. The leverage of tariffs as punishment has limits. Congress does own the purse strings of government, it has been that way since founding. All this did was test the boundaries of what can happen if the Republican bourgeoisie have control of both houses of Congress and the president. Clearly it was chaos.
Nicholas Jay Boyes
Milwaukee Wisconsin
American Democratic Republic
2 23 2026
Ecological Era 