Congress

Sitting justices almost never testify before Congress. It last happened with any regularity decades ago, and the institution has spent years treating its own internal workings as none of the legislature’s business. On July 14, 2026, that changed — Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett appeared before the House Appropriations Committee to defend a $921 million security budget request. They left having conceded, on the record, something the Court has spent years refusing to say plainly: it doesn’t have settled rules for how it uses the tool that now decides more cases than its actual docket. ...

The Supreme Court ruled today — February 20, 2026 — that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not give the President the power to impose tariffs. The vote was 6-3. Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the majority. The Court’s most sweeping executive trade action in modern history has been struck down as unconstitutional overreach. The case is Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, consolidated with V.O.S. Selections v. United States. The ruling vacates the Trump administration’s “Liberation Day” tariffs — the sweeping duties imposed in April 2025 on imports from dozens of countries — and remands the question of refunds to the U.S. Court of International Trade. More than $160 billion in IEEPA tariff revenue has been collected since January 2025. The fight over who gets it back, and how, is now just beginning. ...