Donald Trump experienced a rare moment in his second term as president Friday: a loss from the nation’s highest court.
The US supreme court declared many of Donald Trump’s tariffs illegal in a sharp rebuke that topples a key pillar of the president’s aggressive economic agenda.
In a 6-3 ruling, the court decided that a 1977 law designed to address national emergencies did not provide the legal justification for most of the Trump administration’s tariffs on countries across the world. It is the first time the court has overruled one of Trump’s second-term policies.
Trump was not happy and, shocking probably no one, lashed out at the justices who ruled against him – including two he appointed in his first term.
On his Truth Social platform, Trump called the justices who ruled against his tariffs “fools and lap dogs”, “very unpatriotic” and “disloyal to the Constitution”, claiming without evidence that the court “has been swayed by Foreign Interests”. In the same post, he also singled out the three conservative dissenters – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh – for praise.
Later at a press conference, Trump added to his insults, saying the six justices who ruled agains his global tariffs were “a disgrace to the nation” and are now “barely” invited to next week’s State of the Union address at the US Capitol. He also said that the ruling had emboldened him to enact “very powerful alternatives” to the tariffs declared illegal.
That took shape later Friday when the president signed documents imposing a 10% tariff on all countries, which a White House fact sheet says will take effect Tuesday, 24 February.
Furious Trump signs global 10% duty after supreme court issues tariff blow
Donald Trump on Friday railed against the supreme court justices who blocked his use of tariffs, calling them a “disgrace to the nation”, and later signed documents imposing a 10% tariff on all countries.
Federal judge accuses White House of ‘terror’ against immigrants in US
A federal judge has accused the Trump administration of terrorizing immigrants and recklessly violating the law in its efforts to deport millions of people.
The judge said that the White House had also “extended its violence on its own citizens”, citing the killings of Renee Good in January by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer and Alex Pretti in the same month by border patrol, both US citizens and both protesting in Minneapolis.
US citizen shot and killed by federal immigration agent last year, new records show
The death of Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, would mark the earliest of at least six deadly shootings by federal officers since the start of a nationwide immigration crackdown in Donald Trump’s second term. On Friday, DHS said the shooting on South Padre Island last March occurred after the driver intentionally struck an agent.
Anger as Trump FDA retreats from plan to ban artificial colors in food
In a further retreat from its pledge to ban artificial dyes from food, Donald Trump’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it would loosen labeling requirements to allow companies to state “no artificial colors”, even though products may contain some dangerous substances such as titanium dioxide.
US envoy Mike Huckabee says it would be ‘fine’ if Israel took all Middle East land
The US’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has contended to the podcaster Tucker Carlson that Israel has a biblical right to take over the entire Middle East – or at least the lion’s share of it. “It would be fine if they took it all,” Huckabee said to Carlson during an interview posted on Friday.
Florida Republicans pass bill renaming West Palm Beach airport after Trump
Democrats in Florida have condemned Republican colleagues in the state legislature who approved renaming the airport in West Palm Beach to the “President Donald J Trump International Airport”, less than a week after lawyers for Trump sought to trademark the name.
New Mexico to reopen inquiry into Epstein’s ranch amid pressure campaign
New Mexico will reopen its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro ranch in the state after a public pressure campaign for a fuller accounting of the role the location played in the late financier’s sex-trafficking conspiracy.
What else happened today:
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 19 February 2026.
