need to know
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President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address on February 24, denouncing the recent Supreme Court ruling on his tariff plan as “very unfortunate”
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Days earlier, Trump called the judges who voted to block his tariff plan “a disgrace to our country.”
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Only four of the nine Supreme Court justices attended the speech
President Donald Trump blasted the Supreme Court in its face during his State of the Union address following its recent ruling on his tariff plan.
The president spoke at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, February 24, and made several pointed remarks about members of the Supreme Court. Only four justices were present — Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — but that didn’t stop Trump from criticizing the entire court’s decision.
“This is an unfortunate ruling, a very unfortunate ruling, by the Supreme Court of the United States,” Trump said as the four justices present sat in the front row.
Four days ago, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to strike down one of the most touted policies of Trump’s second term so far: import tariffs.
The Supreme Court ruled last week that the president exceeded his authority by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to impose unprecedented tariffs on imports from nearly all U.S. trading partners.
However, as he did when he made the ruling, Trump promised that he planned to keep the tariffs in place, just without using IEEPA.
“Almost all countries and businesses want to keep the deals they have reached because they know the legal powers I have as president could be far worse for them,” he said. “There is no need for Congress to act… We finally have a president who puts America first.”
Trump announced the imposition of tariffs on April 2, 2025, which he called “Liberation Day” and announced a 10% baseline tariff on most imported products from the United States. Some countries will face higher tariffs if they do not participate in trade negotiations. time reported. Many countries retaliated by raising taxes on U.S. goods, causing stock markets to plunge.
President Donald Trump announces his international tariff plans on Liberation Day, April 2, 2025
Photo credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty
The morning the Supreme Court ruled to overturn the program, Trump was holding a breakfast meeting with governors across the country.
Although he kicked members of the White House press corps out of the room shortly after entering, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reports that during the closed-door meeting, the president called the Supreme Court decision a “disgrace” and assured the gathered governors that “he has a backup plan.”
Trump eventually addressed the media later in the day, calling the ruling “very disappointing.”
“I’m absolutely ashamed that certain members of the court don’t have the courage to do the right thing for our country,” Trump, 79, said. “When you read dissent, there’s nothing anyone can do to argue with them.”
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The president praised the three dissenting justices — Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas — but called those who voted with the majority a “disgrace to our country.”
He reserved his harshest insults for Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch — the two Trump appointees who voted against his tariffs — saying they had “embarrassed their families.”
“I think the court has been influenced by foreign interests,” he continued. “It’s almost like [the decision was] Written by not very smart people. “
Five of the nine justices on the Supreme Court skipped Trump’s 2026 State of the Union address: Republican appointees Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch, and Democratic appointees Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
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