How SCOTUS' tariff bombshell impacts the Hill - Punchbowl News

The Supreme Court’s bombshell ruling striking down President Donald Trump’s tariff regime has set off a scramble on Capitol Hill over what role, if any, lawmakers will have to reassert their authority over trade policy.

The high court’s decision raises the economic, political and legal stakes of Tuesday night’s State of the Union address even further — if possible. Supreme Court justices, whom Trump has already publicly admonished, will be sitting right in front of him. Anything the president says on trade will be closely watched.

*What’s next? *The ruling from the Supreme Court came just as Democrats were in the middle of forcing votes on tariffs Trump imposed under IEEPA, creating a headache for the GOP congressional leadership. But those efforts aren’t as politically potent now.

In a split decision, **the Supreme Court **ruled that Trump had no authority to trigger IEEPA for those tariffs in the first place. Trump is now turning to other authorities to wage his trade wars.

In the short term, the situation could lead to fewer tariff votes overall, which is a reprieve for Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson. These votes have put GOP trade divisions on display and prompted Trump to lash out at vulnerable Republicans who oppose him.

But there are still big questions about what comes next. Trump has replaced the IEEPA levies with global tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. Trump has already announced he plans to raise the tariffs from his initial 10% **target to **15%.

Trump can keep these tariffs in place for up to 150 days. Beyond that point, the president would need congressional approval to do so. Trump can use the coming months to ramp up trade investigations and draw on other tariff authorities. But the Section 122 expiration date will be a hard deadline.

News: *Democrats are already plotting the next stage of their tariff fight. We’re told that Senate Minority Leader *Chuck Schumer will release a statement later today declaring that Senate Democrats won’t support extending those tariffs past the initial 150-day window.

Democrats have long opposed the tariffs, so this isn’t necessarily a surprise. But Schumer is laying down a marker here early.

It also comes as Democrats are preparing to wage new pressure campaigns over refunds for the tens of billions of dollars in IEEPA tariffs, demanding that the money the federal government collected now be returned. This could become a big pressure point for the Trump administration.

“Under this administration they illegally took money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans,” said Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), who has a bill to force refunds. “In my neighborhood when you take somebody’s money, you stole from them.”