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Posted on 02/22/2026 6:18:13 AM PST by MtnClimber
Will this week’s Supreme Court decision limit the use of tariffs as a foreign policy tool of presidents, or did it set up a firewall against future leftist chief executives while allowing this president to continue to utilize other means to the same end? Is the decision momentous or of little consequence?
A lot of attention this week was focused on Alysia Liu’s stunning Olympic performance and the tale of a baby monkey in a Japanese zoo (name Anglicized to “Punch”). Punch was abandoned by his mother, had been raised and bonded to his caretakers who needed to integrate him into the monkey troop which rejected him. Noticing his distress and the bullying he was receiving, the keepers gifted him a large orangutan doll which he hugged and carried everywhere. Finally, he found a foster mom to hug and playmates and all is well at the zoo.
In the meantime, the Supreme Court, after months of consideration, resolved 6-3 against the Administration in one of the two consolidated cases: Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump and Trump v. V.O.S. Solutions. In the first case, the Court denied the federal district court had jurisdiction, ruling that the Court of International Trade had exclusive jurisdiction of tariff disputes.
The main and dissenting opinions are very lengthy, but the case at a minimum holds that the IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act), which was the basis for the challenge in the V.O.S. case, can't be used to raise revenue.
Justice Clarence Thomas strongly objected: “it’s the same basic statutory construction that Nixon used in his day to levy tariffs. And nobody at the time questioned the meaning of those words. So again, the Supreme Court is torturing the plain meaning of the statute. It’s a shameful thing.”
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
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Please read the whole article. This ruling was not so bad and it closed loopholes that democRATs could abuse. There are other statutes Trump can use to impose tariffs and he was putting them in place while this case was debated by SCOTUS.
The “necessary and proper” standard should apply to government as a whole and by branch.
I have advocated that Congress set the rules of trade by law that takes account various factors such as the size of the trade deficit and the items to be imported.
That would be subject to adjustment no more than once yearly. This might be done by October 1st for agreement by foreign countries by the first of the year.
We should be a nation of laws set by Congress.
The unfairness and financial imbalance of trade are long-standing issues Congress should have gotten a grip on long ago.
Financial balance should be the key factor in Congressional trade legislation and comparative advantage the next most important factor.
Thanks, and this looks like one to ignore. The first tip was the lack of reaction in the stock market.
We simply shouldn’t be importing:
1. stuff that can be made and packaged by automated equipment
[we should only be importing high comparative advantage products
like sewn garments and other high assembly time consumer products]
2. ferrous products for motor vehicles
[we export few cars - tariffs on automobile grade steel won’t hurt US automakers]
3. aluminum alloys for aircraft
[we need the absolute ability to build warplanes]
4. inputs to make plastic products
[this stuff is made at industrial scale]
5. life-saving drugs and their precursors
[so our sick people can’t be held hostage by anti-American governments]
You'd need to have a Congress that would do its damned job. It doesn't. Hence, CRs forever.
There was likely a reaction.
But the public didn’t see it because we weren’t in the know.
Funny how that works.
For a clue, check to see what members of Congress did.
Hint, hint...
I love how Jeff Childers explained this in his Coffee & CoVid column yesterday.
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/tariff-turnabout-saturday-february
“set up a firewall against future leftist chief executives”
This argument is being used in the hope of getting many billions of refunds that would wind up in the hands of importers selling out the American labor force.
I’ve advocated Congress enact a refund recapture income tax so the refunds flow right back to the Treasury instead of staying in the hands of importers selling out the American labor force:
Income received from the USCIS via a refund process shall be taxed at 100%. Checks issued for such refunds shall be placed immediately afterward in the cardboard boxes the Commission of the Internal Revenue Service shall provide.
Trump is healthy and we won’t see a leftist chief executive until 2029 at the earliest.
And I might add, if Newsom or Shapiro impedes imports and American jobs are created, it won’t be something I’ll cry about.
This Jeff Childers article was quoted extensively near the end of the Clarice Feldman article. It is a good article by Jeff.
Trump was making bad use of tariffs as a foreign policy tool, trying to impose them on nations buying oil and gas from Russia, not our enemy, while reaching trade agreements with communist China and the EU, our real enemies.
“You’d need to have a Congress that would do its damned job. It doesn’t. Hence, CRs forever.”
I have advocated for a constitution amendment that would place the House of Representatives on a four-year election cycle two years offset from that for the president.
Cutting the amount of work needed to keep their jobs might free up time to do their jobs.
Boon. We all knew the thinly veiled tariff excuse was going to go down, but the decision could, and it did, possibly strengthen his abilities in other areas that he is now using.
True, and I’m glad others (like Feldman) are noticing Jeff and his intellect, and sharing it with their readers.
Two things I read every morning, Coffee & CoVid, and FR, although FR takes up more of my day.
“Trump was making bad use of tariffs as a foreign policy tool, trying to impose them on nations buying oil and gas from Russia”
Many people want the war to end and for good reason.
Crimping Russian government revenue is a non-lethal way of trying to do that.
I think 25 of 27 EU governments fully support impeding the sale of Russian hydrocarbons.
“Similar to I-95 express lanes, I-66 operates under dynamic tolling with no max toll.”
“When a toll is “dynamic,” the fee to use the lanes is determined by the volume on the roads and demand for the lanes. The suggested toll aims to maintain a free-flow speed of 45 mph. Drivers will see two pricing signs before committing to the express lanes. Once a driver enters the lane, the toll price is locked in place.”
https://www.arlingtontransportationpartners.com/services/i-66-outreach/
It is my understanding that this regulation by dynamic tolls is notorious in the DC area.
Price-based regulation is also used to regulate tobacco use and CO2 emissions.
A reasonable proposal. But add term limits.
President Trump cut V.O.S., which was importing wine I believe at a time when California winemakers are having a tough time, some slack by allowing it to import wine by paying a percentage of its value instead of blocking it outright.
I’m sure Mr. Schwartz and V.O.S. would be far more distressed if he was not able to import wine at all.
“term limits”
Twenty years at government feed troughs, for any person, tops!
Well said. Just think of the great jobs we would have in this country if we went back to American manufacturing. Just think of the many processes involved in Army/Navy and Military Standard hardware alone.
As far as I’m concerned Metric was a system designed to screw over decades of American tool and die, etc. As an engineering designer I screwed metric over every chance I got. I was always looking out for this country unlike the Congress who tried to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). I sure as hell am not a fan of Trump bringing the Japanese back to Ohio.
A good explanation of the processes.
https://www.eigenengineering.com/what-is-the-difference-between-tool-and-die/
I remember going to the Reynolds Aluminum plant in Cincinnati many years ago. It’s gone as well as one of the largest piping suppliers in Ohio.
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