Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., declared victory Friday after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs, arguing the ruling reaffirmed Congress’s constitutional authority over trade policy.
Bacon, who has long pushed legislation to return tariff power solely to Congress, took to social media shortly after the decision was handed down.
“The Constitution’s checks and balances still work. Article One gives tariff authority to Congress. This was a common-sense and straightforward ruling by the Supreme Court. I feel vindicated as I’ve been saying this for the last 12 months,” Bacon wrote on X.
He went on to say that Congress should take responsibility for defending its own powers rather than relying on the judiciary.
“In the future, Congress should defend its own authorities and not rely on the Supreme Court,” Bacon added. “Besides the Constitutional concerns I had on the Administration’s broad-based tariffs, I also do not think tariffs are smart economic policy. Broad-based tariffs are bad economics.”
The Supreme Court’s decision rejected the administration’s use of emergency authority to impose sweeping tariffs. Despite the ruling, Trump announced he plans to move forward with a 10 percent global tariff using a different statute, prompting further debate among Republicans about executive authority and trade.
Bacon later appeared on CNN to address Trump’s response to the ruling and his stated intention to press ahead.
“Any tariff has to be approved by Congress. That is what he wrote, and that’s the majority position. The president today kept quoting the dissenting view, which is not law. Neil Gorsuch’s position is law,” Bacon told CNN’s Brianna Keilar.
He emphasized that the Court’s majority opinion — not the dissent — now governs.
“And so, bottom line, any tariff that the president wants to do has to go through Congress and be approved. That’s the bottom line from this ruling. And I agree with that. That’s what the founders wanted, and that’s what Republicans should want. We have long held this view. Just because President Trump disagrees shouldn’t change what conservatives believe in,” Bacon said.
When asked about Trump’s claim that he does not need additional congressional approval because authority has already been granted, Bacon pointed to the legal limits of Section 122, the statute Trump referenced. That provision, he noted, expires in 150 days unless Congress extends it.
“Well, I did read Neil Gorsuch’s position on this. That was the majority position in the ruling, and that is what is now law, unless it gets changed later down the road,” Bacon said.
He predicted that if the president moves forward with a 10 percent global tariff, Congress would likely vote against it.
“It may not have a veto-proof majority, but it will have a majority that will go against that 10% overall tariff,” Bacon said. “So I think the president is making a mistake here.”
Bacon also questioned whether a blanket global tariff is consistent with arguments that tariffs should be reciprocal.
“I think the 10% global tariff also undermines his argument about these tariffs being reciprocal,” he said.
Reaffirming his long-standing position, Bacon reminded fellow Republicans that opposition to broad-based tariffs has historically been a core conservative principle.
“We have opposed tariffs since World War II. It’s been the conservative position,” he said, adding that the last Republican president to support tariffs was Herbert Hoover, whose policies he said exacerbated the Great Depression.
“The conservative position here is that tariffs are bad economics, bad politics, and we should defend that. I have not changed,” Bacon concluded.
