WaPo answers one or two of my questions:
- Refunds:
As part of its ruling striking down most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the Supreme Court’s majority did not make clear whether the Trump administration will have to refund billions in tariffs already collected by the federal government.
And then
Within minutes of the Supreme Court’s decision Friday, a group of small businesses made a public appeal for the federal government to swiftly refund the money they had paid in connection with the president’s illegal tariffs.
Followed by
Some Democrats have started calling for the Trump administration to issue refunds now that the Supreme Court has struck down most of the president’s sweeping tariffs, although the court’s ruling Friday did not address whether that would happen.
- It was a 6-3 decision. Too bad it wasn’t 9-0. The dissenters were the two most conservative Justices, Alito and Thomas, plus Kavanaugh.
- How is Trump going to feel about this? Here’s what he’s been saying for a year:
“Everybody should pray that the United States Supreme Court has the Wisdom and Genius to allow Tariffs to GUARD our National Security, and our Financial Freedom!” Trump wrote in Truth Social in December.
His acting skills may allow him to look even-tempered, but when the camera’s are not on him?
Trump called it a “disgrace,” the governor [unnamed] said, and left shortly after, telling the governors he needed to work on a statement on the ruling.
This will take some pressure off of the economy, although I expect not all of it. Trump will test his supporters, looking for a measure of how much support he retains after being defeated at the Supreme Court, but in such a way that his supporters will be less stressed.
Refunds? I doubt it; SCOTUS dodged a bullet when it didn’t specify refunds, since Trump won’t have to defy SCOTUS on that count. Still, he may defy the ruling denying him authority, as that’s a central blow to his claims. It’s an affirmation to the limits of Executive power, and one that SCOTUS should have affirmed long ago when Trump begged for immunity. Republican soft-headedness, whether by SCOTUS or Senators, has been one of the sources of our current contretemps.
Yes, yes, Democrats make contributions as well.
