Posted on 01/12/2026 12:03:43 PM PST by DFG
President Trump declared Monday that the US would be “screwed” if the Supreme Court rules against his reciprocal tariff policies — arguing the feds would have to “pay back” billions in revenue collected over the past year.
“[I]f the Supreme Court rules against the United States of America on this National Security bonanza, WE’RE SCREWED!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“The actual numbers that we would have to pay back if, for any reason, the Supreme Court were to rule against the United States of America on Tariffs, would be many Hundreds of Billions of Dollars,” he wrote.
“[A]nd that doesn’t include the amount of ‘payback’ that Countries and Companies would require for the Investments they are making on building Plants, Factories, and Equipment, for the purpose of being able to avoid the payment of Tariffs.”
Trump argued that “[w]hen these Investments are added, we are talking about Trillions of Dollars! It would be a complete mess, and almost impossible for our Country to pay.”
“Anybody who says that it can be quickly and easily done would be making a false, inaccurate, or totally misunderstood answer to this very large and complex question,” he went on.
“It may not be possible but, if it were, it would be Dollars that would be so large that it would take many years to figure out what number we are talking about and even, who, when, and where, to pay.”
The Supreme Court is poised to rule as early as Wednesday on whether Trump could use emergency powers to impose sweeping tariffs announced last April, including a 10% baseline for most countries and higher rates that took effect in August for nations with which the US has a trade deficit.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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Yup.
The Supreme Court can decide to screw Trump (and the country) or they can decide not to.
But I hope they also see that this could become a game of "The Supreme Court says you have to do this" while the Executive Branch decides "There is no way I'm doing that" which then leads to a third Impeachment attempt, which will fail and make the Supreme Court look weak and stupid and easy to ignore.
The founders never seem to have envisioned a day when congress would be so compromised and dysfunctional that they absolutely could not manage tariffs. So yes- It really is an emergency on a grand scale. Does the US survive or does it die ?
The more damage it will cause, the more likely it is that SCOTUS will rule against it. Don’t underestimate the deep state. It’s obvious Roberts is compromised.
Too big to rule, eh?
If Congress gave the President the ability to levy tariffs, it’s lawful.
Nah. They’ll say you can’t do it anymore, but you can keep the revenue.
The federal budget deficit totaled $601 billion in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026.
If the US loses the case Trump should just shut down all trade which he can clearly do. Let’s see if he could finally get Congress to pass something. He can also just redo the Tariffs with a slightly changed justification and go through this whole process again. Play their game. As longa s it’s in the courts it stays on. You can do this for a decade easily. It’s not lost on me that no matter how many times the courts say Trump can fire whomever he pleases he still has to go through the courts for every action he takes regarding personnel. If they can do it Trump can do it too.
No way. He did the right thing. Spend, spend and spend more. He could have already sent out 2K cheques to everyone paid for by tariffs and force congress to have to take the cheques back. That’s how you get what you want. Create facts on the ground. No one wanted Obamacare and not NO ONE wants to get rid of it.
CONUS protects us from being taxed by the federal executive branch absent a corresponding act of Congress.
CONUS doesn’t protect foreigners from so-called “taxation” by the federal executive branch, whether or not Congress acts.
Well, also that modern warfare is done mostly through trade.
So trade and tariffs are now part of national defense, and not merely fiscal policy.
If it were just a matter of collecting taxes to raise revenue for the government, then of course congress should have a say. But congress rightly recognized that trade is part of national security and gave broad tariff powers to the presidency, the courts should defer to the judgement of congress and the president. If the president’s tariff policies are so awful, he’ll be voted out, and congress can with 2/3 majority pass a law and negates his policy and override his veto.
Trump should tell Roberts that the tariffs are “just a tax”. Unlike Obamacare, which Roberts somehow that was constitutional.
I was watching Mark Levin over the weekend, basically what he said is that the Supreme Court has NO say in the matter. ONLY Congress can stop the President from imposing tariffs, NOT the courts. So if Congress wants to stop Trump from imposing tariffs they can have a vote
COTUS, that is!
Constitution Of The United States.
We’ve already been invaded by an adversary, the democrat party. So of course they are going to bote what’s best for them, not America.
Which is my guess. Led by Roberts. Alito and Thomas will be in dissent.
So it'll be a 7-2 ruling.
Expect the health insurance companies…and the Democrats.
Trump can of course veto such a bill, preventing it from becoming law.
If Congress successfully overcomes such a Trump veto, Trump can potentially successfully challenge the resultant law as an unconstitutional infringement upon his power as President.
Congress and the Executive Branch being co-equal branches of the federal government.
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