The Editors endorse the court’s decision to end Trump’s tariffs and endorse the idea that the courts should make clear that Congress cannot, despite many repeated and reiterated attempts, delegate the power to impose tariffs to the executive branch. I’m not an expert on delegation and won’t pretend to be.

But if the courts are going to do this with the power to impose tariffs, what about war powers?

In the past, we have taken the editorial position that lack of congressional authorization is a “defect” in executive-led war missions, but only to say that Congress should give its rubber stamp. We weren’t so punctilious as to imply that courts should order the immediate return of troops from the theater until Congress acts.