Posted by Alumni from Substack
February 24, 2026
In what is clearly the most significant decision of the second Trump administration thus far, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 last Friday in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that the president cannot impose tariffs under the provisions of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Since the decision effectively nullified Trump's protectionist trade policy, setting the administration up for years of legal battles over whether it must refund tariff revenues already collected, and how it could do so, Learning Resources initially looked like a devastating blow for the president. Finally, the judicial branch has stood up to Trump and firmly said No! It took just a few hours for observers to figure out that the consequences were far less cut and dried than they first appeared. First, because the decision (authored Chief Justice John Roberts)'including a lengthy concurrence by Neil Gorsuch, a lengthy dissent by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and several other concurrences and... learn more