US Supreme Court Strikes Down Trump Tariffs, Jairam Ramesh Applauds Checks and Balances

Calling it an amazing decision despite its "ideological composition", he highlighted that the Bench of Nine Justices ruled 6-3, which is "decisive".

Taking it to X, Ramesh wrote, "Hats off to the US Supreme Court for striking down President Trump's entire tariff strategy! Quite an amazing decision given its ideological composition. A 6-3 verdict is decisive." He further added a sly remark that the American system of checks and balances "still seems to be working".

The majority ruling held that the US President lacked authority under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose sweeping import duties on goods from nearly all US trading partners.

In its verdict, the US Supreme Court held that the IEEPA does not grant the President the authority to levy tariffs.

The ruling is expected to have wide-ranging consequences for global trade, businesses, consumers, inflation trends and household finances across the country.

The verdict marks a notable shift from a series of recent wins for Trump at the Supreme Court. Over the past year, the justices had largely sided with the administration in interim orders, allowing policies such as a ban on transgender troops serving in the military, granting the United States DOGE Service access to sensitive data, and enabling significant cuts to the Education Department while legal challenges continued, The Washington Post reported.

The Bench of Nine Justices ruled 6-3, with Chief Justice John Roberts authoring the majority opinion. Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.

"IEEPA's grant of authority to 'regulate . . . importation' falls short. IEEPA contains no reference to tariffs or duties. The Government points to no statute in which Congress used the word "regulate" to authorise taxation. And until now, no President has read IEEPA to confer such power," Chief Justice Roberts wrote in his opinion.

"We claim no special competence in matters of economics or foreign affairs. We claim only, as we must, the limited role assigned to us by Article III of the Constitution. Fulfilling that role, we hold that IEEPA does not authorise the President to impose tariffs," he added.

- ANI