No permission slips: Trump’s tariff pivot after Supreme Court smackdown

Published May 8, 2026 10:00am ET



On Feb. 20, six Supreme Court justices decided they understood American trade policy better than the president.

Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by Justices Sonya Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, ruled 6-3 in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump — holding that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs. The White House spent approximately zero minutes sulking.

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