New Jersey’s Democrats are celebrating a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down much of President Donald Trump’s vast tariff regime.
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had exceeded his authority when he instituted tariffs on a majority of the world’s nations. Two Trump-appointed justices — Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett — joined Chief Justice John Roberts and the bench’s three liberals in the ruling.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who had criticized the tariffs during her successful campaign for governor last year, lauded the ruling, saying the president’s tariffs had cost American families over the last year. The ruling comes despite a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court.
“I applaud the Supreme Court’s decision striking down President Trump’s illegal tariffs that hurt working people,” Sherrill said in a statement on Friday. “Donald Trump and his rich friends are the only people benefiting from this economy, while his tariffs are crushing small businesses and costing average families $1,700 every year.”
Trump, during a press conference at the White House, called the decision a “disgrace” and deemed the justices in the majority as “disloyal to the Constitution.” The high bench found that a law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not grant Trump unilateral authority to impose tariffs, including the near-universal 10% tariff he imposed on imports.
Several of New Jersey’s congressional Democrats, including Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), Rep. Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon), and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) celebrated the ruling.
“The White House must move immediately to unwind these tariffs and work with Congress on meaningful relief for those who carried these costs,” Watson Coleman wrote. “A ruling may restore the law, but it does not erase the harm this administration has caused.”
Business representatives in New Jersey offered a more measured response. Michele Siekerka, the president and CEO of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, said that the tariffs may have benefited New Jersey’s manufacturers in the long term, but worried about the short-term cost for the state’s employers. She said the pain “has been too much to bear” for many of the state’s employers.
“Today’s ruling could potentially alleviate some of those cost pressures for those impacted,” Siekerka said. “We hope that this pause can bring about more conversation and collaboration between industry and lawmakers to strengthen our national economy, but without putting our employers in peril.”
