The hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” spotlighted a potentially pivotal Wednesday Supreme Court hearing that could have “significant economic consequences.”
The hearing saw the court’s justices question U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer about the Trump administration’s use of a 1977 law to give the president the authority to impose tariffs unilaterally during declared national emergencies —without Congressional approval. The Supreme Court’s justices noted Wednesday that the law had never before been used in such a way, and “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough had nothing but praise to heap upon Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett for her line of questioning at the hearing.
“The most remarkable part of that hearing was when Amy Coney Barrett had the solicitor general on the line and he kept trying to pull away and she kept reeling him in,” Scarborough observed. “She was tenacious.”
MSNBC senior legal reporter Lisa Rubin echoed Scarborough’s sentiments, saying, “Pity the person who comes on the other side of Amy Coney Barrett, who is precise, pragmatic and the mother of seven children.”
If the Supreme Court rules that Trump’s reliance on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act for his tariffs is unlawful, “Morning Joe” economic analyst Steve Rattner warned, “It’s going to be a big mess.” You can watch the full “Morning Joe” segment yourself in the video below.
“The tariffs have been bringing in a significant amount of revenue. $200 billion in the government fiscal year that just ended, [and a] projected $300 billion in the fiscal year that just started,” Rattner explained. If the Supreme Court does not rule in Trump’s favor, Rattner said that will lead to questions about the money generated by the president’s tariffs, including whether or not the U.S. government will have to give it all back.
“You’d think that if money was taken illegally from companies or individuals, they should get it back. But unwinding that and figuring out who gets what money, you can’t even begin to imagine what that does,” Rattner noted. According to the “Morning Joe” analyst, the Supreme Court’s decision could also put all of Trump’s international trade deals this year in jeopardy.
“Trump went off and did all these trade deals using these tariffs as his bargaining chip with the Europeans, with whomever,” Rattner explained. “So all those other countries are going to say, ‘Well, wait a minute. If you don’t even have the authority to use the weapon that you were using to get us to do this deal, then we’re out of here and no more deal and you get to go start all over again.’”
“It could be weeks or months before we even know what this decision is,” Rattner concluded. “So he has, basically, taken the ball and thrown it in the grandstand, and there will be significant economic consequences of all of it.”
