Trump calls Justice Brett Kavanaugh his ‘new hero’ after tariff ruling

President Donald Trump revealed which Supreme Court justice he considers his “new hero” after a high court ruling Friday rejected his sweeping tariff powers.

Trump made the statement in a post on his Truth Social platform Saturday morning, a day after the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to block Trump’s tariff powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

“My new hero is Justice Brett Kavanaugh of the United States Supreme Court and, of course, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito,” the post read. “There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that he wants to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

While all three justices voted with the minority, Kavanaugh wrote a sharp dissent calling the high court’s decision “illogical.”

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President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the economy during a rally Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Clive, Iowa. (Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo)

“Under their interpretation of the statute, the president could, for example, block all imports from China, but cannot even impose a $1 tariff on goods imported from China,” Kavanaugh wrote. “This approach doesn’t make much sense.”

Kavanaugh asserted that IEEPA “does not make such a strange distinction between quotas and embargoes on the one hand and tariffs on the other,” but rather authorizes the president to regulate imports during national emergencies using tools such as quotas, embargoes and tariffs.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh dissented from a pivotal Supreme Court ruling striking down Trump’s emergency tariffs. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, file)

Last year, Trump bypassed Congress and unilaterally imposed tariffs on almost every country in the world by invoking IEEPA. The president argued that an influx of illicit drugs from China, Mexico and Canada and a trade deficit that has decimated U.S. manufacturing constituted emergencies justifying the tariffs.

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Trump, in a speech Friday about the decision, praised Kavanaugh for “his genius and his great ability,” adding that he was “very proud of this nomination.”

Kavanaugh wrote in his dissent that while he disagrees with the court’s ruling, it cannot “substantially restrict” a president’s ability to order tariffs in the future because of “numerous other federal laws” that allow the president to impose tariffs.

President Donald Trump during a “Make America Wealthy Again” trade announcement event in the Rose Garden of the White House April 2, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The judge added that the court’s decision could, however, have substantial provisional effects.

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“The United States could be required to reimburse billions of dollars to importers who paid IEEPA tariffs, even though some importers have already passed the costs on to consumers or others,” Kavanaugh wrote. “As was acknowledged during oral argument, the reimbursement process is likely to be a ‘mess’.”

He added that the High Court’s decision could “generate uncertainty” over what the government said were trade deals worth trillions of dollars with foreign countries, including China, the United Kingdom and Japan.

Trump on Saturday increased the global tariff to 15%, up from 10% announced Friday following the Supreme Court ruling. He cited Section 122 of the Commerce Act 1974 in announcing the new levy.