Supreme Court limits Trump tariff powers in split decision

(The Center Square) – The Supreme Court ruled Friday that President Donald Trump exceeded his authority by imposing billions of dollars in worldwide tariffs. The high court decision affects Trump's tariffs enacted under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Trump had used the law to impose tariffs on nearly every imported product from every country. Americans ended up paying billions of dollars in taxes on those imports, according to recent research. The Supreme Court, divided 6-3, held that the law didn't give Trump expansive tariff powers to tax goods entering the country. Conservative Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch and the court's liberal wing – Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson – joined Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion. Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito dissented. The majority ruled that Trump's tariffs violated the major questions doctrine, which holds that Congress must speak clearly when it gr