By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — struck down President Donald Trump’s on Friday, handing him a stinging loss that sparked a furious attack on the court he helped shape.
Trump said he was “absolutely ashamed” of some justices who ruled 6-3 against him, calling them “disloyal to our Constitution” and “lapdogs.” At one point he even raised the specter of foreign influence without citing any evidence.
The decision could have ripple effects on economies around the globe after Trump’s moves to remake post-World War II trading alliances by wielding tariffs as a weapon.
But an unbowed Trump pledged to impose a new global 10% tariff under a law thatap restricted to 150 days and has never been used to apply tariffs before.
“Their decision is incorrect,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter because we have very powerful alternatives.”
The courtap ruling found tariffs that Trump imposed under an emergency powers law were unconstitutional, including the sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs he levied on nearly every other country.
Trump appointed three of the justices on the nation’s highest court during his first term, and has scored a series of short-term wins that have allowed him to move ahead with key policies.
Travis Campbell, owner and CEO of Eagle Creek, a travel-gear company based in Steamboat Springs, was happy with the Supreme Court decision.
“It feels like the rule of law is being upheld in a scenario where I felt like these tariffs have been wrongly put in place from the start,” Campbell said.
But the “second-order effect” is more uncertainty for most small businesses as Trump announced new tariffs and questions loom about refunds, he added. “I pretty quickly turn to what it means, particularly in the spirit of the refund that I think we’re now all owed.”
Campbell said refunds for the higher costs imposed by tariffs would be a lifeline for businesses that he knows “are hanging by a thread.” He said there are established refund processes that have been used when lapsed trade programs were renewed retroactively and tariffs were lifted.
“I see zero cause for any excuses from the administration” for approving refunds, Campbell said.
Eagle Creek, which moved most of its production to Indonesia, has suffered under the tariffs imposed in the second Trump administration, Campbell said. Profits have dropped and the company has laid off “really great people” to keep the business going.
A majority of Colorado businesses surveyed by state agencies in late 2025 said the effects of the import taxes have been negative, with the financial impacts followed by the uncertainty created by changing trade policies cited as the biggest challenges. Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement that Colorado businesses, farmers and consumers have felt the costs of the taxes that increased prices, disrupted supply chains and delayed investment.
“Our economy will grow more and we will all prosper from this decision,” Polis said.
Sen. John Hickenlooper called on the Trump administration to promptly repay businesses the $175 billion levied under tariffs.
“The Trump administration should immediately pay back every single Colorado small business that suffered from their reckless tariffs,” the Colorado Democrat said.
Tariffs were the first major piece of to come squarely before the Supreme Court for a final ruling, after lower courts had also sided against the president.
The majority found that it is unconstitutional for the president to unilaterally set and change tariffs because taxation power clearly belongs to Congress. “The Framers did not vest any part of the taxing power in the Executive Branch,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.
Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.
“The tariffs at issue here may or may not be wise policy. But as a matter of text, history, and precedent, they are clearly lawful,” Kavanaugh wrote. Trump praised his 63-page dissent as “genius.”
The court majority did not address whether businesses could get refunded for the billions they have collectively paid in tariffs. Many companies, including the big-box warehouse chain Costco, have already lined up in lower courts to demand refunds. Kavanaugh noted the process could be complicated.
“The Court says nothing today about whether, and if so how, the Government should go about returning the billions of dollars that it has collected from importers. But that process is likely to be a ‘mess,’ as was acknowledged at oral argument,” he wrote.
The Treasury had collected more than $133 billion from the import taxes the president has imposed under the emergency powers law as of December, shows. The impact over the next decade has been estimated at some $3 trillion.
The tariffs decision doesn’t stop Trump from imposing duties under other laws. Those have more limitations on the speed and severity of Trump’s actions, but the president said they would still allow him to “charge much more” than he had before.
Vice President JD Vance called the high court decision “lawlessness” in a post on X.
Questions about what Trump can do next
Still, the ruling is a “complete and total victory” for the challengers, said Neal Katyal, who argued the case on behalf of a group of small businesses.
“Itap a reaffirmation of our deepest constitutional values and the idea that Congress, not any one man, controls the power to tax the American people,” he said.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the decision restricting Trump’s power to unilaterally set and change tariffs might affect trade deals with other countries.
“We remain in close contact with the U.S. Administration as we seek clarity on the steps they intend to take in response to this ruling,” European Commission spokesman Olof Gill said, adding that the body would keep pushing for lower tariffs.
The Supreme Court ruling comes despite a series of short-term wins on the courtap emergency docket that have allowed Trump to push ahead with extraordinary flexes of on issues ranging from high-profile firings to major federal funding cuts.
The Republican president had long been vocal about the case, calling it one of the most important in U.S. history and saying a ruling against him would be an economic body blow to the country. But legal opposition crossed the political spectrum, including libertarian and pro-business groups that are typically aligned with the GOP. Polling has found with the public, amid wider voter concern about affordability.
While the Constitution gives Congress the power to levy tariffs, the Trump administration argued that a 1977 law allowing the president to regulate importation during emergencies also allows him to set import duties. Other presidents have used the law dozens of times, often to impose sanctions, but Trump was the first president to invoke it for import taxes.
“And the fact that no President has ever found such power in IEEPA is strong evidence that it does not exist,” Roberts wrote, using an acronym for the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Trump set what he called on most countries in April 2025 to address trade deficits that he declared a national emergency. Those came after he imposed , ostensibly to address a drug trafficking emergency.
A series of lawsuits followed, including a case from a dozen largely Democratic-leaning states and others from small businesses selling everything from plumbing supplies to educational toys to women’s cycling apparel.
The challengers argued the emergency powers law doesn’t even mention tariffs and Trump’s use of it fails several legal tests, including one that doomed $500 billion student loan forgiveness program.
Justices reject use of emergency powers for tariffs
The three conservative justices in the majority pointed to that principle, which is called the major questions doctrine. It holds that Congress must clearly authorize actions of major economic and political significance.
“There is no exception to the major questions doctrine for emergency statutes,” Roberts wrote. The three liberal justices formed the rest of the majority, but didn’t join that part of the opinion.
The Trump administration had argued that tariffs are different because they’re a major part of Trump’s approach to foreign affairs, an area where the courts should not be second-guessing the president.
But Roberts, joined by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, brushed that aside, writing that the foreign affairs implications don’t change the legal principle.
Small businesses celebrated the ruling, with the National Retail Federation saying it provides “much needed certainty.”
Illinois toy company Learning Resources was among the businesses challenging the tariffs in court. CEO Rick Woldenberg said he expected Trump’s threat of new tariffs, but hoped there might be more constraint in the future, both legal and political. “Somebody’s got to pay this bill. Those people that pay the bill are voters,” he said.
Ann Robinson, who owns Scottish Gourmet in Greensboro, North Carolina, said she was “doing a happy dance” when she heard the news.
The 10% baseline tariff on U.K. goods put pressure on Robinson’s business, costing about $30,000 in the fall season. She’s unsure about the Trump administration’s next steps, but said she’s overjoyed for now. “Time to schedule my ‘Say Goodbye to Tariffs’ Sale!”
Denver Post reporter Judith Kohler and Associated Press writers Mae Anderson and Steve Peoples in New York, Mark Sherman in Washington and David McHugh in Frankfurt contributed to this report.
