‘That is not true’: Donald Trump hit with blunt fact check after spreading Supreme Court lie

The claim that the Supreme Court approved Donald Trump’s newest tariffs is not correct, even though he has been saying it as if it were a confirmed fact. Reports say he has been presenting the court’s decision in a way that makes it sound like the justices supported his actions, but that is not what actually happened.

Trump has been repeatedly telling people that the same Supreme Court that ruled against his earlier tariffs also approved his use of another legal authority, often referred to as Section 122, which he is now using as a temporary solution. He has spoken about it as if the court clearly allowed him to use this tool to impose tariffs. However, reporting has pointed out that this claim does not match what the court actually said in its ruling.

According to the report, the statement that the Supreme Court approved his use of Section 122 is simply not true. The court did not give any ruling that directly supported or authorized that approach.

Part of the confusion comes from the fact that three justices who disagreed with the court’s main decision mentioned Section 122 as a possible option the president could try to use. Their comments suggested that it might be another path available to him. But those remarks came from the dissenting justices, not from the majority of the court that made the final decision.

The six justices who formed the majority clearly rejected that line of thinking. In the official opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts explained that the court was not going to discuss or guess about legal questions that were not directly part of the case in front of them. In other words, the court did not rule on whether Section 122 could or could not be used in that way.

This difference is important because Trump is now relying on Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to justify new tariffs of 10 percent that he introduced in February. He has argued that these tariffs are necessary because the United States is dealing with what he calls a large and serious balance-of-payments deficit.

Some legal experts say the new tariffs may have a somewhat stronger legal argument behind them than the earlier tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down. Still, that does not mean they are safe from legal challenges. Several groups and officials are already preparing to fight them in court.

Democratic attorneys general from 24 states have begun filing lawsuits questioning whether Trump is interpreting the law correctly and whether his decision to include broad exemptions in the tariff policy is legal. These challenges could eventually lead to another major court battle over the limits of presidential power in trade policy.