That was the question in front of the federal courts that ruled against President Trump’s tariffs in the last couple days. The judges weren’t deciding whether the tariffs are good for the country but whether the president has the power to impose them all by himself.

Donald Trump has suffered plenty of legal setbacks in his second term, but none quite like this one. The US Court of International Trade’s ruling this week that the president misapplied emergency economic powers legislation to impose his “liberation day” tariffs knocks out the main underpinning of his flagship policy.