Retired New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano told Newsmax viewers Friday that the Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling striking down President Donald Trump's trade tariffs draws a hard boundary around presidential power.
Appearing on "National Report," Napolitano said the justices treated the tariffs as taxes, and "only Congress can impose taxes."
According to Napolitano, the author of the majority opinion — Chief Justice John Roberts — is itself a message.
"It's important because when the law is going to be profound or extraordinary or change things, and the chief justice is with the majority, the unwritten Supreme Court history is that the chief will write that opinion," Napolitano said.
"It's a signal to the judicial and legal community — this is a profound change."
He compared the moment to the Obamacare ruling, when the chief justice's authorship telegraphed the gravity of the decision.
In skimming the document, Napolitano said he found the court's opinion to be "profound and very strong" that the authority to levy taxes lies in Congress alone.
That, he explained, is why the court rejected the tariffs imposed by Trump.
When asked to explain the difference between sanctions and tariffs, Napolitano said sanctions are different because they regulate conduct without raising revenue.
"Presidents have the authority to do that because it does not involve the imposition of taxes," he said, describing sanctions as "just stopping what's going on."
Napolitano cited former President Joe Biden's sanctions on Russia, which Trump left in place, as an example of lawful executive power that blocks transactions but doesn't levy charges at the border.
Tariffs, he said, can survive only when Congress clearly hands over taxing power in a statute.
"This is called delegating congressional authority to the president," Napolitano explained.
He noted that Justice Neil Gorsuch's view that Congress cannot delegate away its taxing authority differed from "five of the six" in the majority who are of the view that delegation is allowed if it is "in writing" and "very explicit."
Napolitano said that Trump relied on a 1977 emergency statute that was drafted for then-President Jimmy Carter to "stop all imports into the United States from Iran" during the hostage crisis.
Congress, he said, "authorized President Carter to stop all goods coming in from Iran in order to squeeze their economy, but it did not authorize him to tax those goods."
That is the constitutional divide that the high court said presidents cannot cross.
Napolitano said the decision leaves Trump "in a tough spot" on multiple fronts — "legally," "economically," and "personally."
The ruling lands awkwardly ahead of Tuesday night's State of the Union address, he said, when Trump typically stops to shake hands with "the chief justice who wrote this opinion."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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