by
Erin
Schaff-Pool/Getty
Images)
No
cheers
for
Chief
Justice
Roberts!
After
Friday’s
tariff
ruling,
the
usual
suspects
chimed
in
to
glaze
the
three
conservatives
who
ruled
that
Trump
can’t
impose
a
constantly
shifting
tariff
regime
based
on
whichever
country
he’s
trying
to
stick
up
on
a
given
day.
Adam
Liptak,
chief
legal
affairs
correspondent
at
the
New
York
Times
called
it
“a
declaration
of
independence,”
congratulating
the
“controlled,
cerebral
chief
justice”
for
staring
down
“the
biting,
brazen
president.”
Times
opinion
columnist
David
French
suggested
that
Learning
Resources
v.
Trump
“may
prove
to
be
the
most
important
Supreme
Court
decision
this
century.”
“On
this
day
the
presidency
is
stuffed
back
into
its
box.
On
this
day
the
separation
of
powers
prevails.
And
on
this
day
the
Constitution
holds,”
he
gushed.
Over
at
the
Wall
Street
Journal,
the
Editorial
Board
celebrated
the
“monumental
vindication
of
the
Constitution’s
separation
of
powers,”
winking
that
“You
might
call
it
the
real
tariff
Liberation
Day.”
Only
George
Will
at
the
Washington
Post
tempered
his
criticism.
While
lauding
the
ruling
as
a
“defibrillator
to
Congress,”
he
chided
conservatives
for
“something
the
court
has
been
dilatory
about
elaborating
and
timid
about
enforcing:
a
nondelegation
doctrine.”
Please,
Mister
Manly
Chief
Justice,
enforce
your
made-up
“major
questions
doctrine”
harder!
No
doubt
the
Chief
Justice
appreciates
the
lovefest,
but
his
adoring
fans
should
take
a
breath.
Trump’s
claim
that
he
can
shout
“Emergency!”
and
steal
Congress’s
tariff
power
was
stupid
a
year
ago
when
the
first
challenges
were
filed.
It
was
stupid
in
May,
when
a
three-judge
panel
of
the
Court
of
International
Trade
declared
them
unlawful,
for
the
exact
same
reasons
just
reached
by
the
Supreme
Court.
It
was
stupid
in
August
when
the
Federal
Circuit
agreed,
but
sent
it
back
to
the
trial
court
to
figure
out
what
the
hell
to
do
after
SCOTUS
blew
up
nationwide
injunctions
in
Trump
v.
CASA.
And
it
was
stupid
in
September
when
the
Supreme
Court
granted
cert,
effectively
staying
the
CIT’s
injunction
and
allowing
Trump
to
collect
the
illegal
levies.
At
any
point,
the
justices
could
have
put
a
stop
to
this
nonsense.
But,
faced
with
the
choice
to
tell
the
president
“no”
in
the
first
instance
or
let
him
steal
hundreds
of
billions
of
dollars,
Chief
Justice
Roberts
said,
“Eh,
let’s
go
with
door
number
two.
Seems
like
the
safer
option.”
American
taxpayers
footed
the
bill
for
this
fecklessness,
as
importers
passed
the
cost
on
to
consumers.
And
because
the
justices
dithered,
presumably
to
let
Justice
Kavanaugh
polish
his
63-page
turd
of
a
dissent,
the
meter
kept
running
for
four
months.
After
the
opinion
came
down
Friday,
Trump
gave
a
rambling
press
conference,
in
which
he
called
the
majority
justices
“lap
dogs
for
the
RINOs
and
the
radical
left
Democrats”
and
praised
Kavanaugh,
“whose
stock
has
gone
so
up,
you
have
to
see,
I’m
so
proud
of
him.”
There
was
also
a
lengthy
airing
of
his
fantasy
of
being
kissed
by
a
steel
worker.
The
president
did
say
one
rational
thing,
though,
in
response
to
a
question
about
whether
the
Treasury
will
issue
refunds
to
companies
that
paid
the
tariffs.
“They
take
months
and
months
to
write
an
opinion
and
they
don’t
even
discuss
that
point,”
he
groused.
“Wouldn’t
you
think
they
would
have
put
one
sentence
in
there
saying
that
keep
the
money
or
don’t
keep
the
money,
right?
I
guess
it
has
to
get
litigated
for
the
next
two
years.”
Why,
yes,
you
would
…
if
you
weren’t
completely
preoccupied
with
slobbering
all
over
the
justices
for
finally
handing
in
their
homework.
This
omission
guarantees
that
companies
who
paid
these
illegal
levies
won’t
get
their
money
back
without
an
expensive
fight.
And
if
they
do,
it
will
be
a
windfall
for
their
shareholders,
not
the
consumers
who
paid
for
those
tariffs
in
increased
costs.
It’s
functionally
a
transfer
of
wealth
from
consumers
to
American
businesses,
with
an
assist
from
a
demented
despot.
This
is
not
the
day
that
Chief
Justice
Roberts
became
a
real
jurist.
This
is
three
conservative
justices
who
invited
the
president
to
pick
consumers’
pockets
for
a
full
year
before
eventually
telling
him
to
knock
it
off
—
once
they’d
ensured
that
the
chaotic
fallout
would
persist
for
the
rest
of
his
term.
We
will
not
be
applauding
like
trained
seals
because
the
person
who
left
the
bath
running
and
flooded
our
collective
house
eventually
wandered
back
and
turned
off
the
taps.
The
most
important
Supreme
Court
decision
this
century
was
Trump
v.
US.
Roberts,
Barrett,
and
Gorsuch
all
flubbed
that
one,
agreeing
that
the
president
can
do
crimes
with
impunity.
The
fact
that
one
time
they
actually
did
their
damn
jobs
is
no
cause
for
celebration.
It’s
the
bare,
bloody
minimum.
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