Donald Trump appointed Neil Gorsuch in 2017. He appointed Amy Coney Barrett in 2020. He called them both great justices who would restore the Constitution. In February, they voted with three liberal justices to strike down his tariffs 6-3. Trump said their decision cost the country $159 billion. He said they sicken him. He said their rulings are an embarrassment to their families.
Gorsuch responded publicly. He said he would remain independent and fearless. The president who put him on the Court said that was not good enough.
The Ruling
On February 20, the Supreme Court struck down the sweeping tariffs Trump had imposed using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. IEEPA is a 1977 law that allows the president to regulate commerce during national emergencies created by foreign threats. Trump had used it to justify tariffs on imports from Canada, China, Mexico, and eventually most of the world.
The Court said no. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, held that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. He wrote that Trump’s reading of the law relied on just two words — regulate and importation — and that those two words cannot bear such weight. Roberts noted that until now, no president had ever read IEEPA to grant tariff authority. The vote was 6-3. Gorsuch and Barrett joined Roberts and the three liberal justices.
The three dissenters were Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh — who argued the president had broad authority to act on trade emergencies.
The Immediate Response
Trump did not accept the ruling. Within hours of the decision, he signed a new executive order imposing a 10 percent global tariff under a different law — Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — for a period of 150 days. The tariffs the Court struck down were replaced before the day was over.
At a White House news conference, Trump called the ruling a disgrace. He said Barrett and Gorsuch had let the country down. He said their decisions were an embarrassment to their families. On Truth Social he wrote that what happened with Gorsuch and Barrett never seems to happen with Democrats, suggesting his two appointees had betrayed him by ruling on the law rather than on loyalty.
“They Sicken Me”
The attacks did not stop with the February ruling. Trump has continued targeting Gorsuch and Barrett publicly in the months since. In March, he posted on Truth Social that the two justices sicken me. He has called the ruling one of the most damaging decisions in Supreme Court history and blamed it for economic losses he estimates at $159 billion.
No president in American history has publicly attacked sitting Supreme Court justices by name for ruling against him. The norm has been that presidents may disagree with decisions but do not wage personal campaigns against individual justices. Trump has discarded that norm entirely.
Gorsuch Pushes Back
Gorsuch has not stayed quiet. In an interview with ABC News, he said he is determined to remain independent and fearless in fulfilling his constitutional duty. He did not mention Trump by name but the context was unmistakable. A sitting justice appointed by the president was publicly stating that he would not be intimidated by the president.
That is not a normal sentence in American political history. It is the sentence we are living in now.
What This Is
Trump reshaped the Supreme Court over his first term. He appointed three justices with the explicit expectation, understood by everyone involved, that they would rule favorably on the priorities of the Republican coalition. Gorsuch and Barrett did not do that here. They read the law, applied it, and ruled against him.
Trump’s response was to call them an embarrassment and say they sicken him. He reimposed the tariffs under a different legal theory the same day. The birthright citizenship case is still pending before this same Court. So are cases on voting rights, immigration enforcement, and executive power.
The Supreme Court ruled that the president does not have unlimited power to impose tariffs. The president called that ruling a disgrace and two of his own justices a sickness. Gorsuch said he will stay independent. The Constitution is holding. The pressure on it has never been higher.
Sources: CNBC, The Hill, Fox News, ABC News, NBC News, Washington Post, SCOTUSblog, Council on Foreign Relations, Brookings Institution