The judicial activism in America has gotten so out of control, we're almost surprised that the courts haven't ruled yet that President Trump can't drink Diet Coke in the Oval Office.
Unelected judges have tried to hamstring almost every aspect of Trump's presidency and everything that Americans voted for. From deportations to DOGE measures to medical policy, running the military, and beyond, there has been no limit to the left's new brand of lawfare to impede the President and the will of the American people.
Late yesterday, the International Trade Court (which we guarantee almost no one had even heard of before) took the activism to a new level, declaring that the President does not have the authority to impose tariffs as a measure to correct U.S. trade imbalances.
🚨 BREAKING: Court says Trump doesn't have the authority to set tariffs https://t.co/0Qs6CEK8qh
— Axios (@axios) May 28, 2025
Are you kidding us right now? So, what can the President do?
We wouldn't be surprised if some judge came out soon and declared that Trump cannot hold press conferences. (Joe Biden would have appreciated such a ruling.)
Here is more from Axios:
The U.S. Court of International Trade's ruling could bring the administration's trade war to a screeching halt.
- By blocking entirely most categories of tariffs, the court effectively wiped out most of the regime Trump put in place since taking office.
Driving the news: The court, ruling in two separate cases, issued a summary judgment throwing out all the tariffs Trump imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.
Yeah, they can't do that.
The administration immediately filed a notice of appeal, and Whtie House spokesman Kush Desai released the following statement:
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'It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency. President Trump pledged to put America First, and the Administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness.'
Deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted his reaction on X:
The judicial coup is out of control. https://t.co/PRRZ1zU6lI
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) May 28, 2025
Welp. He ain't wrong.
Prominent X user @BehizyTweets provided a lengthy and detailed rebuke of the ruling. (Most of the posts in his thread are very long, so we didn't transcribe them in full, but readers can click on each one to see the complete language of every statute he cited.)
Since the so-called International Trade Court just ruled that Trump doesn't have the authority to impose tariffs. I have no choice but to make this thread literally pointing out that not only does he have the authority, but it's VERY BROAD.
— George (@BehizyTweets) May 29, 2025
Those dumb judges should read this. pic.twitter.com/eGZ9PulTJG
The Trade Act of 1974 couldn't be clearer. It allows the President to impose tariffs if a foreign country doesn't play fair.
— George (@BehizyTweets) May 29, 2025
19 U.S.C. § 2411(a)(1): "If the United States Trade Representative determines that—
(A) an act, policy, or practice of a foreign country is unreasonable…
The Trade Expansion Act of 1962 empowers the President to impose tariffs if he deems it necessary to maintain national security.
— George (@BehizyTweets) May 29, 2025
U.S.C. § 1862(c)(1)(A): "Within 90 days after receiving a report submitted in which the Secretary of Commerce finds that an article is being imported…
The big one is the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which gives him more tariff authority for purposes of economic security.
— George (@BehizyTweets) May 29, 2025
50 U.S.C. § 1701(a): "Any authority granted to the President by section 1702 of this title may be exercised to deal with any unusual and…
ANOTHER ONE: Tariff Act of 1930
— George (@BehizyTweets) May 29, 2025
19 U.S.C. § 1351(a)(1): "For the purpose of expanding foreign markets for the products of the United States (as a means of assisting in establishing and maintaining a better relationship among various branches of American agriculture, industry,…
George concluded with the following post:
SO... What on God's green earth are these CROOKED judges confused about?
— George (@BehizyTweets) May 29, 2025
No serious country has clown courts like this. SHUT THEM DOWN.
He was not the only one to state that, with this latest incomprehensible ruling, the courts have waded into some seriously dangerous waters with respect to their continued legitimacy in the eyes of the people.
ignore them https://t.co/Ky51ToSVRL pic.twitter.com/CA4s7ckEFe
— Logan Hall (@loganclarkhall) May 29, 2025
They are really tempting an Andrew Jackson moment, and they will not enjoy how that works out for them.
It is a testament to the restraint of the Trump administration that they haven't started ignoring many of these rulings already.
No. The courts just said, "You can elect whoever you want, but they will not govern."
— Christian Heiens 🏛 (@ChristianHeiens) May 29, 2025
The same legal system that allowed Biden to unilaterally open the flood gates to the third world and which let Fauci dictate where you were allowed to go for two years now suddenly rediscovers… https://t.co/mPOqZJbTb6
... now suddenly rediscovers 'checks and balances' because someone is threatening to destabilize the liberal economic consensus that infinite debt and zero industrial capacity is somehow good for America.
Trump must either assert the power to govern, or the country will be handed over to a bureaucracy and court system that's only accountable to itself.
Many called on SCOTUS and Chief Justice John Roberts to put an end to this nonsense or face severe, perhaps irreparable, damage to trust in the judiciary.
John Roberts has a lot of hard and serious thinking to do in the weeks ahead. I hope he doesn't have fixed summer vacation plans. https://t.co/CbmoIA7S4Q
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) May 29, 2025
As noted in the post being quoted there, it is highly unlikely that SCOTUS will allow the International Trad Court's ruling to stand. But beyond that, Roberts needs to admonish such judges in general for vastly exceeding their authority.
Even people who don't like the President's tariffs -- and they have been fairly divisive even on the right -- called out the judicial activism taking place.
I'm hard against the tariffs but this is massive judicial overreach. Substituting there judgement for the president's On what constitutes a national emergency is a slippery slope
— One Eyed Man in the Land of the Blind (@SJonNantucket) May 29, 2025
If Congress wants to take back the tariff authority it delegated to the executive branch more than 50 years ago, it can do so at any time. But the Trade Court cannot simply strip away that authority.
They're just making s**t up at this point. https://t.co/vQbXQXjBmN
— Misheru Katorin 🇳🇱 (@MKatorin) May 29, 2025
Clown courts https://t.co/nJxZnuwKmF
— Robin Russell (@russell_2929) May 29, 2025
Yep. Pretty much.
As we noted above, the Trump administration's appeal of this ruling is likely to be successful, for all of the reasons that @BehizyTweets outlined.
But that takes time, that takes money, and meanwhile, this ruling is also likely to throw markets into another tizzy of uncertainty.
The goal of activist judges isn't necessarily to stop the President, it is to hinder him. On that front, this latest ruling was successful, even if it ultimately fails.
Which is why Chief Justice Roberts cannot remain silent about judicial overreach in lower courts any longer.
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