Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share SCOTUS on Tariffs
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
SCOTUS on Tariffs
The Ruling: Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump and the Limits of Presidential Tariff Power
On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinion. Justices Gorsuch and Barrett, both Trump appointees, joined the majority. Justice Kavanaugh dissented in sixty-three pages. Seven separate writings. One hundred and fifty-one pages. Two words in a 1977 statute. The most significant constraint on presidential trade authority since 1934.
This episode traces the full arc: the toy company CEO who filed the lawsuit, the legal arguments on all sides at full strength, the political fracture across the Republican coalition, the economic fallout (130-175 billion dollars in potential refunds, two trillion in projected deficit impact), the administration's immediate pivot to Section 122 replacement tariffs with a 150-day clock, the personal attacks on the justices, and the institutional question underneath it all -- whether judicial review can survive sustained rhetorical assault by the executive it is designed to check.
The ruling's binding holding is narrow and textual: IEEPA does not authorize tariffs. The major questions doctrine analysis is a three-justice plurality, not binding law. The nondelegation debate between Gorsuch and Thomas reveals a genuine schism within originalism. The 150-day Section 122 clock expires approximately July 20, 2026, unless Congress acts. Every position is steelmanned. No conclusion is drawn.
Approximately 3 hours 40 minutes. 31,000 words across 10 chapters.
---
This episode was produced on February 20, 2026, the day the ruling was issued. It was written in a single production session using Proxima Earth's multi-model pipeline. Primary research and narrative synthesis by Claude (Anthropic). Adversarial fact verification by ChatGPT Pro (OpenAI), targeting fifteen core assertions -- seven corrections were identified and integrated before writing. Real-time social media intelligence by Grok (xAI). Narration by Kokoro text-to-speech, voice profile George. Human editorial direction throughout.
This is not journalism. It is pedagogical synthesis. It depends entirely on the primary sources it cites. The research prompts, verification results, and editorial brief are published alongside the episode at proxima.earth.
For corrections or source disputes: [email protected]
For episode suggestions: [email protected]
View all episodes
By Proxima.EarthThe Ruling: Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump and the Limits of Presidential Tariff Power
On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinion. Justices Gorsuch and Barrett, both Trump appointees, joined the majority. Justice Kavanaugh dissented in sixty-three pages. Seven separate writings. One hundred and fifty-one pages. Two words in a 1977 statute. The most significant constraint on presidential trade authority since 1934.
This episode traces the full arc: the toy company CEO who filed the lawsuit, the legal arguments on all sides at full strength, the political fracture across the Republican coalition, the economic fallout (130-175 billion dollars in potential refunds, two trillion in projected deficit impact), the administration's immediate pivot to Section 122 replacement tariffs with a 150-day clock, the personal attacks on the justices, and the institutional question underneath it all -- whether judicial review can survive sustained rhetorical assault by the executive it is designed to check.
The ruling's binding holding is narrow and textual: IEEPA does not authorize tariffs. The major questions doctrine analysis is a three-justice plurality, not binding law. The nondelegation debate between Gorsuch and Thomas reveals a genuine schism within originalism. The 150-day Section 122 clock expires approximately July 20, 2026, unless Congress acts. Every position is steelmanned. No conclusion is drawn.
Approximately 3 hours 40 minutes. 31,000 words across 10 chapters.
---
This episode was produced on February 20, 2026, the day the ruling was issued. It was written in a single production session using Proxima Earth's multi-model pipeline. Primary research and narrative synthesis by Claude (Anthropic). Adversarial fact verification by ChatGPT Pro (OpenAI), targeting fifteen core assertions -- seven corrections were identified and integrated before writing. Real-time social media intelligence by Grok (xAI). Narration by Kokoro text-to-speech, voice profile George. Human editorial direction throughout.
This is not journalism. It is pedagogical synthesis. It depends entirely on the primary sources it cites. The research prompts, verification results, and editorial brief are published alongside the episode at proxima.earth.
For corrections or source disputes: [email protected]
For episode suggestions: [email protected]