Trump Raises Specter Of Constitutional Crisis Over Tariff Refund

You gotta hand it to him. I don't know what "it" is on some days, but it's something. Something to d

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13 thoughts on “Trump Raises Specter Of Constitutional Crisis Over Tariff Refund

  1. I have little doubt Trump and his cronies will find a way to ignore SCOTUS and any ruling declaring his precious tariffs illegal under IEEPA, the rule of law is just a nuisance for them, sadly most people in America will not care.

  2. There’s a point at which even a guy like Teflon Don gets too far out over his skis. Ask Icarus. The more Trump implicitly threatens SCOTUS to do his bidding, the more likely SCOTUS is to rule sharply against him and anticipate his post-ruling shenanigans. The Court may have no choice but to explicitly describe various actions POTUS may contemplate taking and their consequences, as well as describing clearly Congress’s responsibilities. The nondelegation doctrine provides a foundation for SCOTUS to rule against POTUS, describe Congress’s past Constitutional laziness (or malfeasance) on tariff legislation, and highlight Congress’s responsibility to raise it’s game on tariffs and others matters of import when a wannabe autocrat becomes Pres.

    Never mind. SCOTUS may rule against Trump on tariffs, but the conservatives on the Court don’t have the guts to describe the bigger autocratic picture as it is to Congress or POTUS.

  3. A narcissist, who is so extreme, that he would never even recognize, let alone acknowledge, his narcissistic motivations. His only motivations for everything he does is power, recognition, revenge, diminishing others and money. If anyone/anything else benefits from his actions, that is just a byproduct.
    Something weird must have happened during his upbringing.

  4. Trump has a very simple remedy: have Congress approve his Tariffs.
    He could have done it in the first place if was willing to be slightly less autocratic and slightly more willing to actually work.

  5. I think we’re all being a little too naive about this Supreme Court. I am quite sure the partisan leadership of this court has done the calculation and understands the dangers of ruling against Trump as described above. They also seem to support the concept of autocratic rule in the US vis a vis the Unitary Executive theory. This makes me believe that there is no way they actually go through with ruling against Trump, the effects would be devastating to the current state of GOP politics of which they are major players and benefactors. They would rather allow illegality to continue than to destroy the project they’ve invested 5 decades into building.

    All at our expense of course, but I doubt any of them will ever see it that way.

    1. The zeitgeist is certainly leaning towards SCOTUS ruling against the president’s use of IEEPA for imposing blanket tariffs, so I wouldn’t bet against that outcome, at least not without odds. Still, one should always remember: John Roberts is a coward.

  6. In the appellate courts, the government said tariffs should not be enjoined, because they could always be refunded if a higher court found them invalid. That surely has not escaped the Supreme Court’s attention.

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