In this political era of executive overreach — and that probably qualifies as the understatement of the decade — I have been encouraged by one development:
On February 20th, the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA). In doing so, SCOTUS gave the Republican Party, and Trump, an enormous gift — an off-ramp from this highway to economic hell which is coming back to bite them in the butt because it is making everything more expensive (as every thinking economist told them it would). And the American public hates the tariffs. But, of course, Trump doesn’t care about that. He cares about being “right”, and imposing his will on his subjects, regardless of how they feel about it.
But here’s what makes my heart feel all warm and fuzzy. Well, o.k., maybe tepid and slightly fuzzy (like a peach, not a bear). To date, Trump has complied with the SCOTUS ruling. Sure, he’s insisted in no uncertain terms that he is going to reinstitute the tariffs under alternative statutory authority (statutes which give him much less discretion and authority, and more accountability I might add), and he is already going a long way towards making good on that promise. But my point is that — and this is a very good thing! — the president didn’t simply ignore the court ruling.
In any other political era prior to 2016, that previous sentence would have been not simply odd or self-evident, it would have been something out of bizzaro-world, like an evil Superman or a cat singing opera. But we are not in any other political era. We are in the Trump political era. And in the Trump era, court decisions are “more like what you’d call ‘guidelines’.”
You doubt me? Let’s just ignore the fact that he tried to overturn, by force, the lawful certification of electoral votes on January 6, 2021 — not because it didn’t happen, but because that wasn’t a court decision, and that’s what we’re talking about here. No, let’s look at how the Trump DOJ continued to deport aliens despite a federal district court’s preliminary injunction to cease and desist those deportations. Or how about that same DOJ refusing to return deported individuals to the United States when ordered by a court to do so. In fact, a Minnesota federal court judge has threatened to hold the Trump administration in contempt of court for failing to comply with hundreds of court orders. You can read the court order here (behind a firewall).
So, again, my point is not to dwell on the past . . . er, indiscretions of our president. My point is he didn’t provoke a Constitutional crisis by refusing to abide by the SCOTUS ruling invalidating his tariffs. Now, to be fair, nobody knows what he might have done had he not had other tariff powers to fall back on. We just don’t know. But for now, the rule of law holds. Mostly.
Let’s take the win when we can get it, and be grateful.
