Supreme Court tests presidential power

The U.S. Supreme Court is at the center of two fights over presidential power that reach into immigration, trade and the limits of emergency law. One case asks whether President Donald Trump can narrow birthright citizenship by executive order. Another asked whether Trump could use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to impose sweeping tariffs on imports from trading partners around the world. The tariff case has already produced a ruling. The citizenship case is still pending. ### Which Supreme Court case is still unresolved? Trump v. CASA, Inc. is the live dispute. The case grew out of President Trump’s January 20, 2025 executive order, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” which said some children born in the United States to parents without lawful status or with only temporary presence would not automatically receive U.S. citizenship, according to the government’s Supreme Court filing. Federal judges blocked the order, and the administration asked the Supreme Court to curb those nationwide injunctions. In a June 27, 2025 opinion, the court said the government was seeking partial stays to limit the injunctions to the plaintiffs in each case, framing the fight as one over the scope of lower-court relief as well as the citizenship order itself. (supremecourt.gov) ### Why did Trump attack the court before the ruling? Donald Trump told reporters on May 21, 2026 that it would be “a disgrace” if the Supreme Court ruled against him in the birthright citizenship case, according to Mediaite and Newsweek. Yahoo also reported that Trump said the court would do “a great disservice” if it upheld birthright citizenship. (supremecourt.gov) The justices heard arguments in the birthright citizenship dispute in April 2026, according to USA Today and SCOTUSblog. Those reports said the case could turn both on the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause and on whether lower courts can issue nationwide injunctions that stop a policy everywhere at once. (mediaite.com) ### What did the court already decide on tariffs? The Supreme Court ruled on February 20, 2026 in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. The opinion said the case was consolidated with Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc. and held that the statute did not permit the reciprocal and drug-trafficking tariffs challenged in the litigation. (usatoday.com) The question mattered because the tariffs had been imposed under presidential emergency powers rather than through Congress’s usual trade statutes. The government’s merits brief had presented the issue as whether IEEPA authorized the tariffs and, if so, whether that reading would amount to an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. (supremecourt.gov) ### Why does the tariff ruling still matter if that case is over? Amazon is now facing a proposed consumer class action over tariff refunds after the Supreme Court’s tariff decision and the government’s refund process, according to Times of India, Yahoo Finance, WWD and AOL. Those reports said the lawsuit alleges Amazon kept tariff-related amounts in prices and has not sought or passed through refunds tied to invalidated tariffs. (supremecourt.gov) That follow-on litigation shows how a Supreme Court ruling on presidential trade power can spill into private disputes over who ultimately bore the cost. In this instance, the next fight is not over whether tariffs were lawful, but over whether consumers should get money back. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) ### What should readers watch next? The Supreme Court’s opinions page shows the justices continue to release decisions during sitting days, with sessions beginning at 10 a.m. The next concrete milestone is a decision in the birthright citizenship case, which will determine what happens to Trump’s order and whether nationwide injunctions remain available in similar challenges. (supremecourt.gov) (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)