Justice Neil M. Gorsuch’s concurring opinion released on Friday after #SCOTUS struck down Trump’s #tariffs concluded with a paean to #Congress that read like a requiem for a bygone era of #legislative #power.

“Yes, legislating can be hard & take time,” wrote Justice #Gorsuch, a #Trump appointee who is part of the court’s #conservative majority. “And yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises.”

#law #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment

#Gorsuch continued, “But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design. Through that process, the nation can tap the combined wisdom of the people’s elected representatives, not just that of one faction or man.”

It was a description of governing completely at odds with what is currently underway across the street from #SCOTUS at the Capitol, where #Republicans controlling the #House & the #Senate have ceded their #power to one man — #Trump.…

#law

Most of Trump’s #GOP allies condemned the ruling, firmly rejecting the idea of insisting on their own branch of government’s constitutional role. Of the few #Republican senators who cheered it as a triumph for #ChecksAndBalances, some had repeatedly voted against blocking some of the sweeping duties #Trump unilaterally imposed, wary of crossing him. And in the #House, GOP leaders used a procedural move for nearly a year to prevent lawmakers from even having to take such a vote.

#law #Congress

Asked at a news conference at the White House on Friday whether he now planned to work with #Congress to impose the kinds of sweeping #tariffs he prefers, #Trump said he had no intention of doing so.

“I don’t have to,” he said. “I have the right to do tariffs.”

That has been a position that #Republican leaders have largely preferred not to question.

#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment