US Supreme Court casts doubt on legality of Trump's global tariffs | Hacker News Reader

US Supreme Court casts doubt on legality of Trump's global tariffs

reuters.com

17 pointslenerdenator6 comments

The frustrating thing about this is how SCOTUS decided that the president can't be inconvenienced by lower court rulings ... so his illegal tax stands and reaches into the pocket of every American.

Then after letting the president have a free hand (probably just because he's the same party as the SCOTUS majority's party) and putting it off for a long time, now SCOTUS worries about "Wait what happens if we decide this is illegal and they have to give the tax back!?!?!"

It's almost like you shouldn't let an autocrat do illegal things for a long period of time to the American people in the first place...

Maybe even SCOTUS should take the position that protecting the rights of all Americans should come first vs the most powerful man in the country's convenience.

I think a lot of the groupthink in conservative circles around letting Trump do whatever the hell he wants is based on the myth that he is a good businessman and won't screw with the money, so it was fine to let him do what he wanted without any real judicial or legislative review.

Well, as it turns out, he will screw with the money, so they're going to have to now review all of the crap he does and check off on each item one-by-one.

The tricksy and most-insidious thing is that American consumers paid more money to the companies that raised prices on account of the tariffs, yet if the tariffs are invalidated, the companies will get the refunds and will pocket the money.

So Trump and the Trump-adjacent win either way: if tariffs stand, then they will have successfully funneled additional power to the Executive Branch and acted out the GOP's international policy goals; and if tariffs fall, then effectively corporations will claim American consumers' tax refunds.

An interesting point, what happens next might turn out to be quite revealing.

probably just because he's the same party as the SCOTUS majority's party

I think we've seen evidence that it's more than just party tribalism or identity politics. Justice Alito flying an upside down US flag, and an "Appeal to Heaven" flag seem noteworthy. The 100% pro-Trump rulings so far are also odd. Not even G.W. Bush had this much SCOTUS backup.

>> Then after letting the president have a free hand... now SCOTUS worries about "Wait what happens if we decide this is illegal and they have to give the tax back!?!?!"

+1 for catching the inconsistency in SCOTUS's argumentation, making themselves sound incompetent and sacrificing their credibility for the benefit of those they serve.

I've always thought of Trump's erratic tariffs as a trade-negotiation bluff and market manipulation in the wider sense. The market manipulation part did enrich him further along with the golden club that kisses up to him.

However, quite predictably, the bluff was called and the wider US economy got weaker. Now the club is deciding if it's time to unwind and they're having a hard time because they just love the "tough man" brand of political and economic BS which was engaged in justifying the lunacy. They love inflation too and they love Trump because he loves inflation (his words), but he isn't the only one who can deliver. When they make up their minds, the SCOTUS is going to tell us what they've decided.

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