Fox Legal Analyst Says Supreme Court Justices Feared Trump Authority ‘Slippery Slope’ on Tariffs

Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley called the Supreme Court’s Friday decision on tariffs a “blow to the administration” and argued justices feared a “slippery slope” when it comes to President Donald Trump’s authority.

The Supreme Court ruled on Friday morning that Trump’s sweeping emergency tariffs are illegal, and Turley joined Fox News’ America’s Newsroom to provide analysis.

Turley said Trump’s team did a “terrific job” and “could not have argued the case better,” but Chief Justice John Roberts and others viewed the emergency tariffs as a tax and under the authority of Congress.

“The night is hardly over for the administration,” Turley warned, arguing there are still other statutes the president can use to impose tariffs.

The latest decision, he added though, could have sweeping effects on both the economy and the administration’s foreign policy, which has sometimes included using the threat of tariffs against other countries.

“The president obviously cannot rely on the regulation of importation for this type of sweeping tariff program that he has created. There is still a lot of question there as to his use of existing authority to carry out or to impose these types of tariffs,” Turley said.

Turley argued that the Supreme Court’s decision boils down to concern about the executive branch’s authority under the current president.

He explained:

What people have to keep in mind is that this sort of sounds like a revenue fight between the branches, but it goes to the core of the balance between the branches. I think what the Supreme Court was so concerned about is that we have a very strong executive [branch] in this country. It has gotten to be more and more powerful and the key ability of Congress to check and balance those powers is the power of the purse, the control of revenue. And I think these justices were concerned that they were looking at a slippery slope here that would allow the president to really make inroads into that authority.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh all dissented from the majority opinion (written by Roberts) on Friday.

“The President asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope…he must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it,” Roberts wrote in the ruling.

Watch above via Fox News.

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