WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's vision of the Supreme Court, in which his three appointees are personally loyal to him, collided with the court's view of itself Friday when six justices voted to strike down Trump's signature economic policy — global tariffs imposed under an emergency powers law.
The outcome led Trump to launch an unusually stark personal attack on the justices, with special rancor reserved for the two Trump appointees who defied him.
The case represented a challenge of Trump’s many untested, yet forcefully stated imperatives on everything from trade to immigration policy and the court’s ability to maintain its independence and, at times, act as a check on presidential authority.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling on tariffs is deeply disappointing and I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed, for not having the courage to do what’s right for the country,” Trump said in the White House briefing room several hours after the court issued its decision, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts.
Trump said he expected as much from the three Democratic appointees on the court. “But you can’t knock their loyalty,” he said. “It's one thing you can do with some of our people.”
Asked specifically about Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, who were part of the majority, Trump said, “I think it’s an embarrassment to their families, if you want to know the truth, the two of them.”
Vice President JD Vance, whose wife, Usha, spent a year as a law clerk to Roberts, echoed the president’s criticism, though he didn’t make it personal. “This is lawlessness from the Court, plain and simple,” Vance wrote on X.
Legal opposition to the tariffs crossed political lines, with a key challenge coming from the libertarian-leaning Liberty Justice Center and support from pro-business groups like the Chamber of Commerce.
Trump has had a checkered history with the court dating back to the start of his first White House term in 2017, though he won his biggest court battle in 2024, a presidential immunity ruling that prevented him from being prosecuted over efforts to undo his 2020 election loss.
In the first year of his second term, he won repeated emergency appeals that allowed him to implement major aspects of his immigration crackdown and other key parts of his agenda.
Presidential criticism of Supreme Court decisions has its own long history. President Thomas Jefferson was critical of the court's landmark Marbury v. Madison case, which established the concept of judicial review of congressional and executive action. President Franklin Roosevelt, frustrated about decisions he thought blunted parts of the New Deal, talked about older justices as infirm and sought to expand the court, a failed effort.
In 2010, President Barack Obama used his State of the Union speech, with several members of the court in attendance, to take aim at the court's just-announced Citizens United decision that helped open the floodgates to independent spending in federal elections. Justice Samuel Alito, who hasn't attended the annual address since, mouthed the words “not true” in response from his seat.
Trump, though, crossed a line in the way he assailed the justices who voted against him, Ed Whelan, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a former law clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia, wrote in an email.
“It’s entirely fine for a president to criticize a Supreme Court ruling that goes against him. But it’s demagogic for President Trump to contend that the justices who voted against him did so because of lack of courage,” Whelan wrote.
Some presidents also have criticized justices they appointed for decisions they've made.
Following the seminal Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower told friends that appointing Chief Justice Earl Warren had been his biggest mistake, according to biographer Stephen E. Ambrose.
Objecting to a dissenting vote in an antitrust case, President Theodore Roosevelt once allegedly said of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, wounded in action during the Civil War, that he ”could carve out of a banana a judge with more backbone.”
But these remarks were conveyed in private, not at a livestreamed presidential appearance in the White House briefing room.
On a personal level, Trump has had a sometimes tense relationship with Roberts, who has twice issued public rebukes of the president over attacks on federal judges.
Trump didn't mention Roberts by name on Friday, but he seemed to be assailing the chief justice when he said he lost the case because the justices “want to be politically correct,” “catering to a group of people in D.C.”
Trump used similar language when he criticized Roberts' vote in 2012 that upheld Obamacare.
Similar to the timing following the Citizens United ruling, the president and some members of the court, dressed in their black robes, are likely to be in the same room Tuesday when Trump delivers his State of the Union address.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg once nodded off during a presidential speech in the House of Representatives, attributing her drowsiness to some fine California wine. No justice is likely to be napping Tuesday night.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Pope Army Airfield, in Fort Bragg, N.C., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, en route to Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
MILAN (AP) — South Korean speedskater Kim Gilli thought it funny earlier in the Milan Cortina Olympics when someone referred to her as Lambor-Gilli, an homage to the famous Italian sports car known for its speed.
There was nothing humorous about the way she took care of everyone in the 1,500 meters on Friday night.
Gilli denied South Korea teammate Minjeong Choi her third consecutive Olympic gold in the event, relegating her to the silver medal, while Corinne Stoddard earned a drought-ending bronze medal for the U.S. in short-track racing at the Winter Games.
“I showed everything I could do, remaining calm,” Gilli said through a translator. "I believed in myself and went for it.”
So did Stoddard, who earned the first individual medal in a short-track event for an American woman in 16 years.
Stoddard set the early pace in the final race of the Olympic program, but Choi swept to the front with two laps to go as the crowd rose to its feet. Gilli quickly went with her and the 21-year-old made the decisive pass on her teammate before crossing the finishing line.
Stoddard raised her arms in triumph as she crossed the line a split-second later for third place.
Arianna Fontana of Italy came up short in her bid to tie Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen as the most decorated Winter Olympian with her 15th medal. After winning gold in the 2,000-meter relay and silver in the 500 meters and 3,000-meter relay earlier in her home Olympics, the 35-year-old Fontana finished fifth in the 1,500-meter finale.
“I did everything I could in this last Olympic race, but unfortunately my back pain gave me some limitations,” said Fontana, who was involved in a quarterfinal crash. "I am very happy about these Olympic Games and managing to arrive to five out of five finals and to get medals at home at 35 years old is the best I could have hoped for.”
Two of the biggest medals favorites failed to even make the finals.
Courtney Sarault of Canada, who had already won two silver medals and two bronze medals during the Milan Cortina Games, went down on her own midway through her semifinal race, spoiling her shot at finally standing on the top step of a podium.
Moments later, and at nearly the exact same spot, Xander Velzeboer of the Netherlands went down. She was chasing a third gold in the Milano Ice Skating Arena after winning the 500 meters and 1,000 meters earlier in the Winter Games.
“Don’t really know (what happened),” Sarault said. “I had a hit with someone at the start and think I lost my edge. Then the ice condition wasn’t great, so I was fighting with no edge and then not landing properly. So, when the ice chipped out, my center of gravity wasn’t really very good to fight it, so it just chipped away.”
There was a scary moment earlier in the night when Kamila Sellier crashed in the quarterfinals.
The Polish speedskater was clipped across the left eye by a competitor's blade while sliding into the wall, where she lay motionless as medics rushed to her side. She was eventually immobilized on a stretcher, but gave up a thumbs-up as she was wheeled away, leaving a trail of blood in the final corner of the track that workers had to clean during the break.
Polish officials said Sellier’s eye was OK. She received stitches at the arena before going to the hospital for more tests.
The Netherlands won its first men's 5,000-meter relay at the Olympics earlier Friday night, pulling away from the Korean and Italian teams over the final two laps of the 45-lap race to add to an impressive short-track haul at the Milan Cortina Games.
Jens van 't Wout, who skated the anchor leg and celebrated as he crossed the finish line, earned his third gold medal and fourth in all, while his nation earned its fifth gold and seventh medal overall in the short-track speedskating program.
He was joined by his brother Melle van 't Wout, Teun Boer and Friso Emons in stopping the clock in 6 minutes, 51.847 seconds, giving the Netherlands a comfortable gap over their closest pursuers inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
““I’m just so incredibly proud of the team we have here, the team we came to the Olympics with. We’ve never been this close as a team, and I think it really shows in our overall performance,” Jens van 't Wout said. "And for me, I mean, I’ve never been happier.”
Jeongmin Lee, Juneseo Lee, Jongun Rim and Dongmin Shin managed to get past the Italian team in the final corner of the race to take the silver medal for the second consecutive Winter Games. Rim also earned individual bronze in the 1,000 meters.
Italy rounded out the podium for the host nation. Pietro Sighel, Thomas Nadalini, Luca Spechenhauser and Andrea Cassinelli were able to relegate the defending champion Canadians to fourth place in a race often described as choreographed chaos.
“We are so down to party,” Nadalini said.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Team Netherlands celebrates after a short track speed skating men's 5000 meters relay final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Jens van 't Wout of the Netherlands celebrates during a short track speed skating men's 5000 meters relay final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Corinne Stoddard of the United States leads during a short track speed skating women's 1500 meters semifinal at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Minjeong Choi of South Korea prepares to compete during a short track speed skating women's 1500 meters final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Gilli Kim of the Republic of South Korea celebrates during a short track speed skating women's 1500 meters final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
