SCOTUS Hands Trump ‘Most Significant’ Loss in Modern History

Legal experts say the Supreme Court’s stinging decision striking down Donald Trump’s power to impose tariffs “couldn’t have been a bigger blow” to the president.

Jan Crawford, CBS News’ chief legal correspondent, said the 6-3 decision represents the most significant defeat ever suffered by a U.S. president before the Supreme Court “in modern history.”

She added: “This decision obliterates a cornerstone of President Trump’s economic policy, ruling that he does not have, under this federal law—the International Emergency Economic Powers Act—the authority to impose these exorbitant tariffs on virtually all of his trading partners around the world.”

The resounding defeat caught the president off guard as he was having breakfast at the White House with state governors on Friday morning. Upon learning the news, CNN reported that he vented his anger and interrupted his breakfast to prepare his reaction.

Crawford emphasized that the president is legitimately offended.

“I think this is one of the most significant defeats ever suffered by an American president before the Supreme Court,” she said.

What likely infuriated Trump even more was that two of the conservative justices who voted with the Court’s liberal wing, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, had been appointed by Trump himself during his first term. Chief Justice John Roberts, appointed by George W. Bush, had also sided with the liberals, thus defying Trump.

On Friday, Trump called the three justices “complete idiots, fake Democrats, and radical leftists.”

CNN chief legal correspondent Paula Reid described the ruling as a “rare defeat” for a president who had achieved most of his goals during his term, thanks to a conservative majority on the Supreme Court and Republican control of the House and Senate.

Reid said the most important question will not only be Trump’s reaction, as he has since vowed to defy the Supreme Court and impose a new 10% global tariff, but also the fate of the hundreds of billions of dollars already collected through those tariffs since their implementation on April 2, 2025.

She noted that, as Justice Kavanaugh stated in his dissenting opinion, “it will be chaos because the Court did not clarify the practical questions concerning the fate of all those sums that the administration has already collected through the tariffs imposed by the president.” She added, “It is likely that lower courts will have to decide this issue.” “

Legal expert Jessica Levinson, a law professor at Loyola University Los Angeles, told CBS News she was shocked to see the Court rule against Trump by such a large majority. A 6-3 majority, as was the case on Friday, has been the norm in many cases during Trump’s second term, but this majority has often sided with the administration, given the composition of the Supreme Court, which has six conservative justices and three liberal justices.

“There’s often a tendency to think that when I’m speaking to you live about a major story, a very important case, the vote (6-3) is bound to be ideological, but that’s not what we saw today,” Levinson said. “It’s important to remember that this case was fundamentally about constitutional authority and the interpretation of the law.”

“This case risks complicating matters, particularly regarding refund claims related to these customs duties. However, it is not for the Court to determine whether this constitutes an illegal agreement. The question before it is the constitutionality and legality of these practices.”

In an interview with CBS News, the Dallas Morning News business editor noted that the Dow Jones had reacted positively to Friday’s decision, a stark contrast to the market’s reaction to Trump’s “Liberation Day” last spring.

He stated, “February 20th could very well be the new Liberation Day, as the markets are already breathing a sigh of relief.”