In Gorsuch’s Homage to #Legislative #Power, a Subtle Reproach of a Neutered #Congress
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In Gorsuch’s Homage to #Legislative #Power, a Subtle Reproach of a Neutered #Congress
In his concurrence to the ruling invalidating #Trump’s #tariffs, Justice Neil M. #Gorsuch made a forceful case for the sanctity of the legislative process — & an implicit critique of its current #dysfunction.
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/21/us/politics/gorsuch-congress-trump-tariffs.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share -
In Gorsuch’s Homage to #Legislative #Power, a Subtle Reproach of a Neutered #Congress
In his concurrence to the ruling invalidating #Trump’s #tariffs, Justice Neil M. #Gorsuch made a forceful case for the sanctity of the legislative process — & an implicit critique of its current #dysfunction.
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/21/us/politics/gorsuch-congress-trump-tariffs.html?smid=nytcore-ios-shareJustice Neil M. Gorsuch’s concurring opinion released on Friday after #SCOTUS struck down Trump’s #tariffs concluded with a paean to #Congress that read like a requiem for a bygone era of #legislative #power.
“Yes, legislating can be hard & take time,” wrote Justice #Gorsuch, a #Trump appointee who is part of the court’s #conservative majority. “And yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises.”
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Justice Neil M. Gorsuch’s concurring opinion released on Friday after #SCOTUS struck down Trump’s #tariffs concluded with a paean to #Congress that read like a requiem for a bygone era of #legislative #power.
“Yes, legislating can be hard & take time,” wrote Justice #Gorsuch, a #Trump appointee who is part of the court’s #conservative majority. “And yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises.”
#Gorsuch continued, “But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design. Through that process, the nation can tap the combined wisdom of the people’s elected representatives, not just that of one faction or man.”
It was a description of governing completely at odds with what is currently underway across the street from #SCOTUS at the Capitol, where #Republicans controlling the #House & the #Senate have ceded their #power to one man — #Trump.…
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#Gorsuch continued, “But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design. Through that process, the nation can tap the combined wisdom of the people’s elected representatives, not just that of one faction or man.”
It was a description of governing completely at odds with what is currently underway across the street from #SCOTUS at the Capitol, where #Republicans controlling the #House & the #Senate have ceded their #power to one man — #Trump.…
Most of Trump’s #GOP allies condemned the ruling, firmly rejecting the idea of insisting on their own branch of government’s constitutional role. Of the few #Republican senators who cheered it as a triumph for #ChecksAndBalances, some had repeatedly voted against blocking some of the sweeping duties #Trump unilaterally imposed, wary of crossing him. And in the #House, GOP leaders used a procedural move for nearly a year to prevent lawmakers from even having to take such a vote.
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Most of Trump’s #GOP allies condemned the ruling, firmly rejecting the idea of insisting on their own branch of government’s constitutional role. Of the few #Republican senators who cheered it as a triumph for #ChecksAndBalances, some had repeatedly voted against blocking some of the sweeping duties #Trump unilaterally imposed, wary of crossing him. And in the #House, GOP leaders used a procedural move for nearly a year to prevent lawmakers from even having to take such a vote.
Asked at a news conference at the White House on Friday whether he now planned to work with #Congress to impose the kinds of sweeping #tariffs he prefers, #Trump said he had no intention of doing so.
“I don’t have to,” he said. “I have the right to do tariffs.”
That has been a position that #Republican leaders have largely preferred not to question.
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
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Asked at a news conference at the White House on Friday whether he now planned to work with #Congress to impose the kinds of sweeping #tariffs he prefers, #Trump said he had no intention of doing so.
“I don’t have to,” he said. “I have the right to do tariffs.”
That has been a position that #Republican leaders have largely preferred not to question.
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
…It was hard not to detect a note of reproach for the current #dysfunctional state of affairs in #Congress in Justice #Gorsuch’s reflections about the virtues of #legislating, in which, he wrote, “deliberation tempers impulse, & compromise hammers disagreements into workable solutions.”
“For some today, the weight of those virtues is apparent,” he added. “For others, it may not seem so obvious.”
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
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Asked at a news conference at the White House on Friday whether he now planned to work with #Congress to impose the kinds of sweeping #tariffs he prefers, #Trump said he had no intention of doing so.
“I don’t have to,” he said. “I have the right to do tariffs.”
That has been a position that #Republican leaders have largely preferred not to question.
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
@Nonilex Will the Supreme Court judges cancel their Trump fanclub membership?
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…It was hard not to detect a note of reproach for the current #dysfunctional state of affairs in #Congress in Justice #Gorsuch’s reflections about the virtues of #legislating, in which, he wrote, “deliberation tempers impulse, & compromise hammers disagreements into workable solutions.”
“For some today, the weight of those virtues is apparent,” he added. “For others, it may not seem so obvious.”
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
Most #Republicans in #Congress appear to fall into the latter category. They have sought to give #Trump broad latitude on nearly every issue of significance, including powers normally jealously guarded by legislators, such as the authority to impose #taxes & #tariffs, to allocate federal #spending & to use #military force.
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
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Most #Republicans in #Congress appear to fall into the latter category. They have sought to give #Trump broad latitude on nearly every issue of significance, including powers normally jealously guarded by legislators, such as the authority to impose #taxes & #tariffs, to allocate federal #spending & to use #military force.
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
Most of the major elements of #Trump’s agenda have been accomplished via executive action, with the exception of the #tax & #spending cut #legislation #Republicans pushed through last year using the #partisan reconciliation process—hardly the “broad support to survive the #legislative process” that Justice #Gorsuch wrote was vital to enacting enduring policies.…
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
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Most of the major elements of #Trump’s agenda have been accomplished via executive action, with the exception of the #tax & #spending cut #legislation #Republicans pushed through last year using the #partisan reconciliation process—hardly the “broad support to survive the #legislative process” that Justice #Gorsuch wrote was vital to enacting enduring policies.…
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
They have not made any major moves to exercise #oversight over Trump’s legally questionable #military moves off the coast of #SouthAmerica, including the raid on #Venezuela’s capital that ended in the seizure of Nicolás #Maduro & his wife, or the continued military campaign against people it accuses of drug smuggling in the #Pacific & the #Caribbean that has killed >100. As #Trump teases an impending military strike against #Iran, there is little indication that he has consulted with #Congress.
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They have not made any major moves to exercise #oversight over Trump’s legally questionable #military moves off the coast of #SouthAmerica, including the raid on #Venezuela’s capital that ended in the seizure of Nicolás #Maduro & his wife, or the continued military campaign against people it accuses of drug smuggling in the #Pacific & the #Caribbean that has killed >100. As #Trump teases an impending military strike against #Iran, there is little indication that he has consulted with #Congress.
Lawmakers sat idly by after the White House informed them it planned to use a rare maneuver to skirt a vote & cancel nearly $5 billion in #ForeignAid #funding that they had already approved.
“Not my lane” has become the go-to reply among #Republicans asked questions about any number of #Trump’s actions [when in reality it is exactly their lane].
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Congress #legislative #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
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Lawmakers sat idly by after the White House informed them it planned to use a rare maneuver to skirt a vote & cancel nearly $5 billion in #ForeignAid #funding that they had already approved.
“Not my lane” has become the go-to reply among #Republicans asked questions about any number of #Trump’s actions [when in reality it is exactly their lane].
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Congress #legislative #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
#MikeJohnson has used some iteration of the phrase to respond to questions about whether it was appropriate for #Trump to accept the gift of a #jet from #Qatar leaders; whether he supported the ouster of the new director of the #CDC; & whether he would support Trump pardoning the convicted sex trafficker #GhislaineMaxwell, though he added such a move would give him “great pause.”
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Congress #legislative #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
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#MikeJohnson has used some iteration of the phrase to respond to questions about whether it was appropriate for #Trump to accept the gift of a #jet from #Qatar leaders; whether he supported the ouster of the new director of the #CDC; & whether he would support Trump pardoning the convicted sex trafficker #GhislaineMaxwell, though he added such a move would give him “great pause.”
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Congress #legislative #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
The few expressions of pushback that have emerged have largely been futile, & instigated by #Republicans who are set to #retire at the end of this congressional session or cut rare maverick streaks, such as Sen #RandPaul & Rep #ThomasMassie, both Kentucky #libertarians who posted Justice #Gorsuch’s words admiringly on social media.
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Trump #Congress #legislative #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
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The few expressions of pushback that have emerged have largely been futile, & instigated by #Republicans who are set to #retire at the end of this congressional session or cut rare maverick streaks, such as Sen #RandPaul & Rep #ThomasMassie, both Kentucky #libertarians who posted Justice #Gorsuch’s words admiringly on social media.
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Trump #Congress #legislative #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
Rep #DonBacon of Nebraska, one of the few #Republicans in the #House who has forced votes to overturn #Trump’s #tariffs & is set to #retire next year, said in an interview on CNN on Friday that one of the arguments #GOP leaders had used to keep their members from breaking was that “the president will just veto this if it does pass, so it’s only symbolic.”
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Congress #legislative #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
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Rep #DonBacon of Nebraska, one of the few #Republicans in the #House who has forced votes to overturn #Trump’s #tariffs & is set to #retire next year, said in an interview on CNN on Friday that one of the arguments #GOP leaders had used to keep their members from breaking was that “the president will just veto this if it does pass, so it’s only symbolic.”
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Congress #legislative #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
“I think it persuaded some, but we have this ruling now that so clearly puts the power back in Congress’s hands, the House’s hands,” Bacon said. “We have to stand up on our own two feet & use these authorities, because that’s what the founders intended.”
He, too, posted a screenshot of Justice #Gorsuch’s conclusion on social media on Friday, calling his homage to the role of the #legislative branch “perfect words.”
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Trump #Congress #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
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Rep #DonBacon of Nebraska, one of the few #Republicans in the #House who has forced votes to overturn #Trump’s #tariffs & is set to #retire next year, said in an interview on CNN on Friday that one of the arguments #GOP leaders had used to keep their members from breaking was that “the president will just veto this if it does pass, so it’s only symbolic.”
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Congress #legislative #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
@Nonilex Then maybe it's in the best interest of the country if the GOP truely looses the House. Impeachment also makes an end to stupid tariffs.
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Lawmakers sat idly by after the White House informed them it planned to use a rare maneuver to skirt a vote & cancel nearly $5 billion in #ForeignAid #funding that they had already approved.
“Not my lane” has become the go-to reply among #Republicans asked questions about any number of #Trump’s actions [when in reality it is exactly their lane].
#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Congress #legislative #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
the more they claim "it's not my lane", the more they guarantee that it will be their lane used, it will be the passing lane, and they will be the ones run over and over.
sadly, they are dragging the entire country down with them.
venal, feckless, quisling cowards, all of them.
i've given up any hope of any GOP getting tired of being run over and bypassed. we need to vote them out of office and put in folks willing to stand up to autocratic decrees from an out of control WH.
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