U.S. Sen. Susan Collins on Friday applauded the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision nixing President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs on imports.
In a 6-3 decision, the high court struck down the Republican president’s use of emergency powers under a 1977 law to implement a key pillar of his economic policy, according to The Associated Press. Presidents have used the law to impose sanctions, but until Trump, none used it to impose new taxes.
The decision deals a blow to a major item in Trump’s economic agenda and marks a surprise rebuke from the high court, which has been willing to allow the president to exercise extraordinary executive powers to cut federal funds and fire large segments of the U.S. government workforce, according to The Associated Press.
“Today’s Supreme Court ruling reaffirms that only Congress has the constitutional authority to impose tariffs, and the President can only do so under a clear and limited delegation of authority from Congress. My votes against the President unilaterally imposing tariffs on Canada reflected the same conclusion as well as my belief that these tariffs often harm Maine’s economy and consumers,” Maine’s senior senator said in a statement.
The Associated Press noted Friday that Trump could still impose those tariffs under other laws.
The majority wrote that, under the U.S. Constitution, Congress “very clearly” has the authority to impose taxes like tariffs.
“The Framers did not vest any part of the taxing power in the Executive Branch,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.
Conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that Trump’s tariffs will cost $3 trillion over the next decade. Trump has floated using the tariff revenue to cut $2,000 checks to most Americans. In the past year, the U.S. Treasury Department has collected about $133 billion under Trump’s tariff scheme, and The Associated Press reported that businesses are already lining up to get a refund.
Friday’s news was greeted warmly by outgoing Gov. Janet Mills, who is vying for the Democratic nomination for this year’s U.S. Senate race against Collins, who is seeking a historic sixth term.
“I was delighted the the chief justice of the United States authored the opinion,” Mills said in a brief interview. “That’s very forceful.”
Her opponent for the Democratic nomination, Sullivan oysterman Graham Platner, welcomed the court’s ruling, saying on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that Trump’s tariffs were “obviously unconstitutional.”
But Platner said the decision shouldn’t become a “giveaway” to corporations, saying that consumers bore the cost.
“Any tariff refunds belong to consumers & small businesses – not corporations w [sic] record profits,” Platner wrote on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.