President Donald Trump erupted Friday after the Supreme Court struck down his sweeping international tariffs, calling the 6-3 ruling “a disgrace” and railing about “these f***king courts,” according to reports.
An aide delivered a note to Trump about the ruling while he was in a closed-door White House breakfast with governors.
Trump reportedly cursed and was “visibly frustrated” and told those gathered he had to “do something about the courts,” then told the group he had a backup plan. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins confirmed the exchange, writing on X that Trump “called it a disgrace” and informed those present that he had an alternative course of action.
Take a look –
CNN: Apparently the breakfast had been going well. Then 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’ing courts pic.twitter.com/p7aR2LiXVV
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 20, 2026
The outburst came hours after the Supreme Court declared that Trump did not have legal authority to use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act — known as IEEPA — to impose sweeping global tariffs.
In a majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court declared that “the Framers gave ‘Congress alone’ the power to impose tariffs during peacetime” and that Trump must “point to clear congressional authorization to justify his extraordinary assertion of that power. He cannot.”
Gorsuch, one of Trump’s own nominees to the court, joined the majority. In his concurring opinion, he wrote that Congress “did not clearly surrender to the President the sweeping tariff power he seeks to wield.” Justice Amy Coney Barrett, another Trump appointee, also sided against the administration.
Trump-appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh, along with Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, dissented.
Republican reaction to Friday’s ruling was split. Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia slammed the decision.
“The Supreme Court just undercut the President’s ability to defend American workers. President Donald Trump was elected to fight unfair trade and stop the United States from being ripped off. I’m outraged by this decision; it’s clearly judicial overreach,” Carter wrote on X.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky took the opposite view.
“In defense of our Republic, the Supreme Court struck down using emergency powers to enact taxes. This ruling will also prevent a future President such as AOC from using emergency powers to enact socialism,” Paul posted.
Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska also sided with the court over Trump.
“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. 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,” Bacon wrote.
Trump had previously warned that a ruling against his tariff policy could force the U.S. to repay “Hundreds of Billions of Dollars” in investments made by companies seeking to avoid his tariffs.
“When these Investments are added, we are talking about Trillions of Dollars!” he wrote in January. “It would be a complete mess, and almost impossible for our country to pay.”
Trump’s trade representative, Jamieson Greer, had told The New York Times in January that if the court ruled against the administration, Trump planned to impose new tariffs that would “start the next day.”
Just hours later, he made the following announcement —
"Effective immediately, all National Security TARIFFS, Section 232 and existing Section 301 TARIFFS, remain in place, and in full force and effect. Today I will sign an Order to impose a 10% GLOBAL TARIFF, under Section 122, over and above our normal TARIFFS already being… pic.twitter.com/B3bv5f5KW1
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 20, 2026