Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch is calling out his colleagues for what he suggests is inconsistent treatment of presidential power under President Donald Trump compared to former President Joe Biden.
Gorsuch joined the 6-3 majority Friday striking down most of Trump's tariffs, but he authored a separate 46-page opinion sharply questioning how the Court has applied the "major questions doctrine" depending on who occupies the White House.
His colleagues, Gorsuch argued, have not been consistent.
"It is an interesting turn of events," he wrote, noting that justices who previously criticized the major questions doctrine when it was used to curb Biden's actions did not object to its application in the Trump case.
The major questions doctrine holds that sweeping executive actions of vast economic and political significance must be clearly authorized by Congress.
The court's conservative majority relied on the doctrine during the Biden administration to block broad initiatives, including a nationwide eviction moratorium, expansive environmental regulations, and Biden's student loan forgiveness plan.
But in the tariffs case, the conservative majority fractured.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined Gorsuch in the majority opinion, which found Trump's tariffs required congressional involvement.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and Samuel Alito dissented.
Gorsuch highlighted what he viewed as contradictions across the ideological spectrum.
"Past critics of the major questions doctrine do not object to its application in this case," he wrote, referring to the liberal justices who sided with the majority against Trump.
"Still others who have joined major questions decisions in the past dissent from today's application of the doctrine," he added, pointing to the dissenting conservatives.
Liberal Justice Elena Kagan, who has previously criticized the doctrine as a judicial invention that appears when convenient, pushed back in a footnote.
"Given how strong his apparent desire for converts, I almost regret to inform him that I am not one," Kagan wrote.
Jonathan Adler, a law professor at William & Mary, told NBC News that Gorsuch's criticism of Kagan carries weight, arguing it is "hard to square" her opinion Friday with the positions she has taken in prior cases.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.