Trump attacks Supreme Court over tariffs, frets about birthright case

By Brett Rowland
The Center Square

President Donald Trump lashed out at U.S. Supreme Court justices Wednesday, calling some Republican-appointed members “weak, stupid, and bad” over a February ruling that struck down his tariffs and warning that an upcoming decision on birthright citizenship could cost America its “dignity.”

“Handing over 159 Billion Dollars in Tariff refunds to people who have been Ripping Off our Country for years, is unexplainable,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “One little sentence would have stopped this record setting payment from having to be made. It is a travesty!”

On Monday, the Trump administration began processing refunds of the $166 billion in tariff revenue collected under IEEPA, launching a new portal for U.S. importers to claim their money back.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in February that Trump exceeded his authority by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, both Trump appointees, along with liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito dissented. Roberts wrote that the Constitution gives Congress alone the power to impose tariffs during peacetime and that Congress never clearly delegated that authority to the president in IEEPA.

Hours after the ruling, Trump imposed a 10% global tariff under a different statute, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. That tariff now faces its own legal challenge in the U.S. Court of International Trade.

On Wednesday, Trump also called the tariff ruling an “unnecessary and expensive slap in the face” to the United States.

A March The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll found that about 42% of voters say American consumers primarily bear the cost of tariffs, while just 12% think foreign countries pay.

Trump’s social media post also turned to the Supreme Court’s pending ruling on birthright citizenship, which he said could be “even worse” than the tariff decision.

“If they rule against our Country on Birthright Citizenship, which they probably will, it will cost America massive amounts of money but, more importantly, it will cost America its DIGNITY!” Trump wrote.

The Supreme Court heard arguments April 1 in Trump v. Barbara, a challenge to Trump’s executive order denying citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents who are in the country illegally or on temporary visas. The 14th Amendment has long been interpreted as granting citizenship to nearly all people born on U.S. soil.

During oral arguments, several justices expressed skepticism of the administration’s position. Chief Justice Roberts questioned how the government could move from narrow historical exceptions to the citizenship rule, such as children of diplomats or invading armies, to exclude the entire class of children born to people in the country illegally.

Trump attended the oral arguments in person, a first for a sitting president.

In his social media post, Trump echoed a sentiment he has made repeatedly: that the court’s conservative majority doesn’t act like one.

“The Republican Justices don’t stick together,” Trump wrote. “No, the Radical Left Democrats don’t need to ‘Pack the Court,’ it’s already Packed!”

Trump has said he is prepared to nominate up to three additional justices before the end of his term, should vacancies arise. The court currently has a 6-3 conservative majority.

A ruling in the birthright citizenship case is expected by summer.