Donald Trump faced-off in-person with Supreme Court justices who ruled against his tariffs last week. The four justices who attended his State of the Union address were forced to remain stoned-faced as the president berated them in front of a joint session of Congress , administration officials – and the world. The president tore into the decision right after sharing cordial handshakes with the four justices seated in the front row of his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. ‘Just four days ago, an unfortunate ruling from the United States Supreme Court. Oh, very unfortunate ruling,’ Trump lamented.
A frosty front row
Meanwhile, Chief Justice John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett kept straight faces during the berating despite both Republican-appointed justices joining all liberal justices in ruling against Trump’s sweeping tariff policies. Barack Obama-appointed Justice Elena Kagan and Trump-appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh were also in the audience on Tuesday. Trump insisted that, despite the 6-3 ruling, most countries and businesses have decided to keep the deals they negotiated with the US. He said that he could make the tariffs even worse if he wanted to and threatened to do so at a press conference last week. They don’t want to ‘make a new deal that would be far worse for them,’ Trump insisted. ‘Therefore, they will continue to work along the same successful path that we had negotiated before the Supreme Court’s unfortunate involvement,’ he said.
Fools and lapdogs
Trump’s cordial handshakes with justices came after he publicly excoriated the ruling against his landmark tariff policies, calling them ‘disloyal’ and an ’embarrassment to their families.’ Tuesday marked the first time Trump came face-to-face with any of the justices after their Friday ruling. ‘His expression as he walked past the judges looked especially somber,’ body language expert Judi James told the Daily Mail, noting a ‘fading, high-pitched vocal tone of a ‘disappointed’ headmaster’ as he ‘roasted’ the justices. James said that the faces of the justices ‘were held in expressionless close-up by the camera, although they appeared keen to return the eye contact from the stage.’ The only justice at his remarks the president was likely pleased to see was Brett Kavanaugh , who joined the dissent with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samual Alito to argue that Trump’s tariffs should be able to remain.
Judicial rebuke
The rejection comes despite the President having the benefit of a conservative majority. He appointed three Supreme Court Justices in his first term – Neil Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett. Despite the Court’s 6-3 rightward lean, Gorsuch and Barrett ruled against the President on Friday, while Kavanaugh penned the dissent in support of Trump. The president was furious. He claimed that ‘foreign influence’ and political machinations scared the justices into ruling against him. He called an emergency press briefing at the White House where he called Amy Comey Barrett and Neil Gorsuch traitors and an ’embarrassment to their families.’ He said he was ‘ashamed’ of them and claimed they were ‘disloyal to the Constitution.’
Trump complained that conservative justices are not as loyal as liberal ones are to Democratic presidents. The Court ruled that Trump was overreaching his executive powers when it came to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). During his fifth State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening, Trump had the chance see in-person four Supreme Court justices for the first time since that ruling. At the Friday press conference, Trump glowed about Justice Kavanaugh – the lone justice he picked who ruled the tariffs should stay in place. He was joined in the dissent by conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samual Alito, who is rumored to be considering stepping down before the end of the current president’s term so Trump gets yet another pick. With a 6-3 conservative majority on the court – and three being trump picks – it was hard to imagine an instance where the current president faced dissent on one of his policies.
He said as much during his tirade in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room on Friday. ‘The Supreme Court’s ruling on tariffs is deeply disappointing, and I’m ashamed of certain members of the Court. Absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,’ the president said before taking questions. ‘It’s my opinion that the court has been swayed by foreign interests and a political movement that is far smaller than people would ever think,’ he alleged without proof. The president also spun the legal defeat into a win, saying that now he has a greater ability to regulate trade.
‘While I am sure that they did not mean to do so, the Supreme Court’s decision today made a President’s ability to both regulate trade and impose tariffs more powerful and more crystal clear rather than less,’ Trump said. ‘I don’t think they meant that.’ The president continued to tear into the conservative justices on Truth Social that day, accusing Gorsuch and Barrett of voting against Republicans ‘and never against themselves.’ ‘At least I didn’t appoint Roberts, who led the effort to allow Foreign Countries that have been ripping us off for years to continue to do so — But we won’t let it happen. The new TARIFFS, totally tested and accepted as Law, are on their way!’ Trump continued. On Monday, he said on social media that he would refer to the highest US court with lowercase letters because he doesn’t have respect for them.
