curated news excerpts & citations
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – February 20, 2026
Today, in a 6–3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court found that President Donald J. Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs were unconstitutional.
Shortly after he took office, Trump declared that two things—the influx of illegal drugs from Canada, Mexico, and China, and the country’s “large and persistent” trade deficits—constituted national emergencies. Under these emergency declarations, he claimed the authority to raise tariffs under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
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Trump promised his supporters that foreign countries would pay the tariffs, but in fact, studies have reinforced what economists always maintained: the cost of tariffs falls on businesses and consumers in the U.S. Similarly, Trump promised his tariffs would make the economy boom and bring back manufacturing jobs, but the latest report on U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter of last year, released just this morning, shows that tariffs and the government shutdown slowed growth to 1.4%, bringing overall growth down from 2.8% in 2024 to 2.2% in 2025.
While the U.S. added 1.46 million jobs in 2024, it added only 181,000 in 2025. Manufacturing lost about 108,000 jobs in 2025.
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… Trump’s reliance on tariffs was mostly about seizing power. Trump’s advisors appear to be using the strategy of Nazi political theorist Carl Schmitt, who opposed liberal democracy, in which the state enables individuals to determine their own fate.
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Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo noted that “today’s decision is…an indictment of the Court.” In August 2025, almost six months ago, the Supreme Court stayed a lower court decision striking down the tariffs as illegal. …
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
Heather Delaney Reese: Trump sealed his own fate today
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And then, just like that, it slipped. Whatever composure he had left cracked in real time. The fury broke through. And what followed was one of the strangest, most unhinged tirades of his presidency. He called the justices “a disgrace to our nation.” He called them “fools and lapdogs.” He said they were “very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution.” He accused the Court of being “swayed by foreign interests.” He said Gorsuch and Barrett’s decision was “an embarrassment to their families.” At one point, while defending his so-called loyalty to the Constitution, he blurted out: “I want to be a good boy.” He mused that maybe Democrats should pack the Court. And he told a bizarre story about fighting off the advances of a male business owner who “wanted to kiss him” the day before.
Slate: John Roberts’ Rebuke of Trump’s Tariffs Is Withering, Confident, and Genuinely Encouraging
ReligiousLiberty.TV: Supreme Court Ruling Bridges Divide Between Biden and Trump Emergency Powers
Joyce Vance: The Context You Need to Understand The Supreme Court’s Tariffs Decision
Steve Vladek: Making Sense of the Tariffs Ruling
Friday’s 6-3 ruling reflects an emphatic repudiation of a specific claim of delegated statutory authority by the Trump administration. Folks should be wary about reading it as more—or less—than that.
Slate: SCOTUS Just Killed Trump’s “Liberation Day” Tariffs. What Happens Now?
If you’re hoping for grocery prices to go down, I’ve got some bad news.
Apple Insider: Trump fights back, replaces struck-down reciprocal tariffs with 10% global import tax
Bloomberg: How Jerome Powell Is Trump-Proofing the Fed
The Fed chair is deploying strategies to help fortify the 112-year-old institution’s independence.
NY Times: 11 Million Visitors Short: Inside America’s Continuing Tourism Slump
WhoWhatWhy: Trump’s Trade Deficit Lie Gets Exposed Within a Day
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CNN: How immigration agents are using a once-obscure law to detain US citizens
A pair of federal immigration agents clad in camouflage and masks approached Ryan Ecklund’s car on a snowy Minnesota street last month with a stark warning.
“You will not be following us anymore,” one agent told him, “or you will be arrested.”
When Ecklund continued tailing the agents’ beige SUV and recording them, he quickly found his status as a US citizen didn’t protect him from being pulled from his car and handcuffed. The agents drove him to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Minneapolis and checked him into detention at a table labeled with a handwritten sign: “USC 111.”
(CNN more…)
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Roger Sollenberger: DOJ Deleted Record Revealing That Maxwell Holds Potential Blackmail Over Trump
The document, which was re-posted after I reported the removal, shows Maxwell’s lawyers possess three FBI interviews with an underage Trump accuser that haven’t been released to the public.
(Roger Sollenberger more…)
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techdirt: It Looks Like The FBI Straight Up Lied To A Judge To Get Permission To Seize Georgia Voting Records
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Newsweek: Prosecutors Told How To Charge ICE Agents
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NY Times: Who Has the Power in Trump’s White House?
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Dispatch: What a Trans Shooter Doesn’t Mean
We can’t simply equate a trans identity with violence.
…The idea that trans people “are the most dangerous people on the planet” feels too provocative to really warrant a response—Matt Walsh fears trans people more than cartel members? ISIS recruits? But there’s a more substantive conversation worth having here about the opportunistic ways in which partisans interpret tragedies and spread certain narratives.
(Dispatch more…)
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Hechinger Report: Inside the fight to save Texas’ Native American studies course
The anti-DEI movement put the future of the high school class in question, but it ultimately survived state board review. Its supporters say that offers a lesson for other states
(Hechinger Report more…)
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Jennifer Rubin: Undaunted in Denouncing Religious Hypocrites
A tribute to those who fearlessly call out white Christian nationalists
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Daily Beast: Petty Trump Opens Top Secret Files in Bid to Eclipse Obama
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Al Jazeera: Israel installed security at Epstein’s Manhattan apartment for ex-PM Barak
ICE deaths 2026 – They deserve remembrance and justice.- January 24: Alex Pretti
- January 14: Heber Sanchaz Dominguez
- January 14: Victor Manuel Diaz
- January 9: Parady La
- January 7: Renée Good
- January 6: Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz
- January 5: Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres
- January 3: Geraldo Lunas Campos
- December 31, 2025: Keith Porter
NACDL Criminal Case Tracker
Texas Tribune: A Walk for Peace: photos of Fort Worth monks’ journey to Washington
Walk for Peace – Dhammacetiya – The Ancient Sacred Buddhist Scripture Stupas
Margaret Chase Smith: Declaration of Conscience
NPR: January 6, 2021: A visual archive
Accountability Initiative ICE List
GriftMatrix
Trump Action Tracker
Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Trump Pardons Database
Project 2025 Tracker
DOGE Tracker
ProPublica: Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew
Wired: 6 Tools for Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Civil Liberties
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