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Feb 20, 2026 - World

A historian Friday described the historic impact of the Supreme Court's decision in its ruling against President Donald Trump's tariffs — something the nation's founders would have appreciated. Tim Naftali, CNN's presidential historian and former head of the Nixon Presidential Library, explained why the high court's ruling was an active practice of what the Constitution was intended to do. "Well, wherever he is, James Madison is smiling today. Tariffs are a tax. The founders decided that taxes should be the responsibility of the Article One branch, which is Congress," Naftali said. "And today the U.S. Constitution worked as it's supposed to work, which is to keep various parts of the government in check when they overstep constitutional bounds," he added. The court's decision was also one of many times throughout history that the Supreme Court has pushed back on a president. "This is a huge moment in American history," Naftali said. "Donald Trump is not the first president to have been disappointed by the court. The courts in the 1930s invalidated Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. That's what led to the first push to pack the court that was Roosevelt's response to the fact that he was so angry at the court for undermining the New Deal."In the end, the court changed, and the New Deal stayed. Richard Nixon was furious at the court for forcing him to turn over the tapes when he lost the case. U.S. v Nixon. Well, the Dobbs decision really unsettled the Biden presidency. And Obama was not happy with Citizens United."He said it's not new for presidents to be unhappy about a Supreme Court decision, but it is American. "It's the way that it works. Our system is supposed to work this way every so often. One of the branches is supposed to be disappointed when it can't engage in a power grab that is unconstitutional."

Feb 20, 2026 - World

CNN hosts were taken aback by how angry President Donald Trump was Friday after the Supreme Court struck down his tariffs. Anchors Boris Sanchez and Brianna Keilar were talking to senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes about Trump's reaction to the Supreme Court's ruling — and how noticeably upset he appeared to be during it. Trump called the move "deeply disappointing" during a press conference and his first public reaction to the high court's decision. He also said that the SCOTUS justices who voted against his tariffs are "barely" invited to his State of the Union address next week, saying, "I couldn't care less if they come.""Yeah, he is clearly angry," Holmes said. "He's been seething about this decision. This is the real core tenet of not just his economic agenda, but really his foreign policy agenda as well. He has used these tariffs as leverage, and he said specifically yes, he is going this alternative route. Yes, he is going to be invoking this 10% global tariffs by using the section 122. We know that they are looking into also using section 301. Those are the things those trade law that they're talking about to get this done. But that being said, the reason that they had gone this route initially was because this was quicker. They wanted this to be done quicker. They wanted to be able to instate this quicker. And that is why you're seeing this frustration from President Trump."Trump was vocal and expressed his annoyance that he wanted his tariffs to continue despite the high court's decision. He also refused to answer CNN questions during the press briefing, calling the network "fake news." "And I will say there were several interesting things he said. One, he was asked specifically about the two justices that he appointed to the Supreme Court," Holmes said.Trump had a scathing comment to the justices he had appointed who voted down his tariffs. "The question that I had also tried to ask, which is whether or not he regretted it, he wouldn't answer that, but he said it was an embarrassment," Holmes said. "This decision to rule against the tariffs was an embarrassment to their families. We know that he has ranted in the past about Supreme Court justices, particularly those he has appointed, who don't rule in his favor, but it was very clear here today that he was incredibly angry; he was angry at the court. He was angry at the people that he put into place. And he said so much, saying that they should be ashamed of themselves and of this decision that they made." Trump praised the three justices who dissented from the decision, including Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who issued a 63-page dissent. "Now, one of the things we also saw him do was walk through the dissent from Kavanaugh, who obviously ruled in favor of keeping the tariffs or against them being illegal and said that he that Kavanaugh had sort of set up a roadmap for what they were going to be doing now to instate these tariffs and praised Kavanaugh as well also mentioning that all the Supreme Court justices are still invited to the State of the Union, but barely but again, you could see how angry he was," Holmes said. "This is a core part of what they do what he has been doing, both in terms of economic policy, paying for different programs, saying that these tariffs are going to various different programs and bailouts, as well as when he goes into meetings with these foreign leaders using the tariffs as an enormous amount of leverage and really doing so carte blanche until now."

Feb 20, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump slammed liberal justices after the Supreme Court ruled against his tariffs on Friday. In his first public comments since the decision, Trump called the high court's ruling "deeply disappointing" and described his frustration following the 6-3 vote during a White House press briefing. "The Democrats on the court are thrilled but they will automatically vote 'no.' They're an automatic 'no' just like in Congress, they're an automatic 'no,'" Trump said."They're against anything that makes America strong, healthy and great again. They also are a, frankly, disgrace to our nation, those justices. They're an automatic 'no' no matter how good a case you have — it's a 'no.' You can't knock their loyalty. It's one thing you can do with some of our people."Trump claimed he had tried to use discretion around his tariffs. "I was very modest in my ask of other countries and businesses because I wanted to do and it's very important, I wanted to be very well-behaved because I... didn't want to do anything to affect the decision of the court," Trump said. "Because I understand the court. I understand how they're very easily swayed. I wanted to be a good boy." Trump: "I want to be a good boy" pic.twitter.com/DDz5sGAo3D— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 20, 2026

Feb 20, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump could face even more legal challenges after the Supreme Court struck down his tariffs, according to an analyst.Ken Dilanian, justice and intelligence correspondent for MS NOW, pointed to how Trump has plenty of success with the high court and previous rulings in his favor — yet not this time. "He won a lot of rulings. But now we're getting to some really big ticket items. This was one of them," Dilanian said. "But then there's some other ones upcoming where a lot of legal scholars believe the Supreme Court is not going to rule in his favor. One example is the birthright citizenship case, where Donald Trump is trying to redefine the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, and who can be a citizen in this country. That was argued in April. Remember, initially they looked at the question of whether there could be a nationwide injunction in that case, and they ruled that there could not be, but they didn't rule on the merits. That's coming up. And a lot of people believe that that is not going to go Donald Trump's way." The next legal battles could also be losses for the president. "Another big case involves the firing of Fed Board member Lisa Cook, and whether Donald Trump can remove her for cause related to something that she didn't do while in office," Dilanian said. "That's a really big case about presidential power, and it's a very good chance he's going to lose that case. And then there are a number of cases involving immigration and DHS. And the use of emergency powers essentially limits on the president's powers that are going to come before this court. And it's really possible that this court is going to constrain Donald Trump in ways that he hasn't seen before. And it will be really interesting to see how he reacts. We know that he tends to attack judges when things don't go his way, as do members of his administration."In a 6-3 vote, the high court ruled that Trump's tariffs were illegal. Among the six justices in the majority decision were Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Neil Gorsuch, Justice Amy Coney Barrett — both Gorsuch and Barrett were appointed by the president. This decision and push back against Trump sent a message to the president, Dilanian said."Well, I think it's been very clear for a long time. And this tariffs case underscores that, that none of those three justices are lackeys for Donald Trump," Dilanian said. "They don't necessarily share his administration's view of executive power. They're certainly very conservative. This is the most conservative court in modern history. But they are independent. And the question of whether they're going to remake, for example, hundreds of years of law on citizenship, it just doesn't seem like their style, particularly Roberts is an institutionalist. And so, again, Donald Trump may be in for a rude awakening here with some of these big cases down the line on."

Feb 20, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump was reportedly infuriated Friday after the Supreme Court ruled that his tariffs were illegal. Trump was hosting the National Governor's Association breakfast with a room full of the nation's governors at the White House when he found out about the high court's decision to strike down Trump's tariffs in a 6-3 vote."Apparently the gov breakfast had been going well, they were working together, and then President Trump became enraged. He started ranting about the decision, not only calling it a disgrace, but started attacking the courts at one point saying, these 'f------ courts,'" said CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes. "This tariff policy — this could not be a bigger decision for President Trump — this could not be a bigger loss for President Trump," Holmes added. "Not only is so much of his economic agenda based on these tariffs, so much of his foreign policy is based on these tariffs. He has used these tariffs as leverage in almost every meeting that he has had around the world. He has touted them as the most important part of the economic agenda. So clearly, a huge loss, and he recognizes that today." Trump and his administration have not yet made an official announcement in response. His team was reportedly meeting to determine next moves, Holmes said.