JD Foster: One-Man Legislature John Roberts And The Trump Tariff Decision

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You would think being the United States Supreme Court Chief Justice would be enough for any man, but John Roberts also likes being a shadow senator. Yes, he did it again. Responding to perceptions of public opinion and his own views, Roberts didn’t “call balls and strikes” on Trump’s tariffs. Roberts went to bat, just as he did 14 years ago to save Obamacare.

As an unabashedly free-trade economist, I’m not entirely comfortable with using tariffs to bludgeon friend and foe. But I grant the necessity. Our trading partners do us dirty time and again. Tariffs create leverage to force them to clean up their act. It has mostly worked and beats watching our “friends” con America with empty trade talks year after year.

I tread gingerly into the Supremes’ debates, but as with the Obamacare precedent, dissecting the tariff ruling isn’t hard. Writing for the majority, Roberts observed the statute in question authorizes the president to “investigate, block during the pendency of an investigation, regulate, direct and compel, nullify, void, prevent or prohibit … importation or exportation.”  (RELATED: Scott Bessent Lays Out Future Of Trump’s Tariffs, Trade Deals)

Roberts observed the statute omits tariffs and duties in this lengthy list and hence the punch line. “Had........

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