Legal experts react to Trump’s SCOTUS clash, tariff pivot in fiery SOTU

Legal experts and commentators took a careful line Wednesday in responding to the president Donald TrumpState of the Union address, where many used the moment to comment on the broader legal and political climate itself, rather than Trump’s actual statements.

Some of the biggest moments in Trump’s speech included his response to the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling that… Its use is contraindicated and the 1977 emergency law to impose tariffs on most US trading partners, as well as his administration’s crackdown on violent crime in major US cities, among other things.

“This is America’s golden age,” Trump declared Tuesday night. “And you haven’t seen anything yet. We’ll do better and better and better.”

Trump took a noticeably measured tone in responding to the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling during the convention State of the Unionbriefly calling the majority’s 6-3 decision “unfortunate” before focusing on highlighting the 10% import tariffs his administration announced shortly after the Supreme Court’s ruling under Section 122 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974.

“Countries that have been robbing us for decades are now paying us hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said of the tariffs, which he previously described as “life or death” for the country’s economy.

Four of the nine Supreme Court justices present at the State of the Union address, including Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Elena Kagan, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, ruled against Trump’s use of IEEPA to enforce his tariffs. (Chip Somodevila/Getty Images)

“The good news is that almost all countries and companies want to keep the deal they already made” with the United States, Trump said Tuesday night, “knowing that the legal authority I have as president to make a new deal could be much worse for them.”

“Therefore, they will continue to work on the same successful path that we negotiated before the unfortunate intervention of the Supreme Court,” he added.

Four of the nine Supreme Court justices present at the State of the Union address, including Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Elena Kagan, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, ruled against Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to unilaterally enact his tariffs.

Trump’s comments represent a shift from his harsher tone in the immediate aftermath of the crisis Tariff decisionWhen he said the Supreme Court was “incompetent” and that the majority should be “utterly ashamed” of itself “for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country.”

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Legal experts and commentators walked a careful line Wednesday in responding to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump’s comments during the State of the Union address were a reference to his new tariffs he invoked under Section 122, or the law that allows a sitting president to impose sweeping tariffs for up to 150 days in response to a large or serious US “balance of payments deficit,” or in response to situations that constitute “fundamental international payments problems” that the US Congress can extend once the 150-day period expires.

But some experts have questioned the legality of using Section 122 to trigger broad global tariffs, suggesting what could be more legal challenges ahead.

“As long as there is ample demand for US debt and equities, as there is, the US will not have a ‘payments’ problem,” Gita Gopinath, a Harvard economics professor and former senior IMF official, noted on social media. “It is able to easily finance its trade deficit.”

“The first thing to note is that the law does not apply to the current status of international payments in the United States,” say Kimberly Clausing and Maurice Obstfeld of the Peterson Institute. He said on Monday. “In reality, The president’s lawyers argued In the IEEPA case, Section 122 was not a substitute for IEEPA, since the balance of payments deficit is conceptually different from the current account and trade deficits that Trump described as an emergency.

Separately, Senate Minority Leader chuck schumer, DN.Y. pledged That his caucus would not agree to Trump’s attempt to extend the tariffs beyond the 150-day period.

“We will not extend these tariffs,” Schumer declared, urging Republicans to join Democrats in blocking these tariffs.

Schumer linked the tariffs to higher costs of groceries, cars and homes.

“Americans are suffering because (Trump) is raising tariffs,” Schumer said.

Trump also used his remarks to tout the dramatic decline in violent crime during his first year in the White House, repeating his administration’s claim that the US homicide rate fell to a 125-year low in 2025.

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President Donald J. Trump delivers his first State of the Union address of his second term before a joint session of Congress. (Kenny Holston/Pool via Reuters)

White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt previously pointed to Fox News Digital and other media outlets to recent data from the Criminal Justice Council that she said showed Trump was “overwhelmingly keeping his promise” to restore law and order in the United States.

“A study conducted by the Criminal Justice Council shows that Murder rate Across America’s largest cities in 2025 it fell to its lowest level since at least 1900,” He told reporters. “Let me repeat to put this in perspective, this represents the largest single-year drop in homicides in recorded history.”

National homicide data to be released later in 2026 could show homicides in 2025 drop to roughly 4.0 per 100,000 residents — the lowest rate ever recorded in law enforcement or public health data dating back to 1900 and the largest single-year decline on record.

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Reactions to the speech — and Trump’s policies — varied, but the president received some praise from across the aisle.

“As a voter, I may not like him. I may find his long style exhausting. But when he speaks, he never shies away from American exceptionalism,” said Michael Ceraso, a Democratic strategist with a background in speechwriting. Fox News Digital.

“I see someone who will protect our cities from those he sees as a threat to democracy, revitalize the economy, manage global partners, and defeat terrorism.

Charlie Kretz, Emma Colton and Michael Ruiz of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.

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