Click here for Paul Krugman's Substack entry for February 4, 2026, entitled "Profiles in Cowardice, Tariff Edition, subtitled "The Supreme Court's silence says volumes."
The Constitution is quite explicit in saying that Congress alone has the right to levy tariffs. Trump is end-running Congress by claiming he has the right to act in a "national emergency." There is of course no emergency; it's another Trump lie. But that's the defense he's putting up in a case argued in the Supreme Court in early November. We're still waiting for a decision.
Krugman explains why SCOTUS is dragging its feet on coming to a decision. Trump has no case; it's open and shut. So if they decide in his favor, they are announcing to the world that they are not a court of justice, but are simply partisan hacks in Trump's pocket. But if they make what everyone knows to be the right decision and go against Trump, it will be a humiliating blow for him, and they will be ostracized from the social milieu they live in, where they are comfortably surrounded by right-wing billionaires and Republican luminaries. Krugman says:
They share in the privilege and glitter of that scene even if they aren’t outright corrupt — even if they aren’t all like Clarence Thomas, who, as ProPublica revealed, has taken multiple lavish vacations paid for by billionaire Harlan Crow.
In fact, with death threats skyrocketing against people who oppose Trump, perhaps judges, SCOTUS among them, fear actual physical danger if they come to a decision that would certainly damage Trump.
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