, Columnist
Bad Economics Isn’t Necessarily Unconstitutional
Designing policy isn’t their job.
Photographer: Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images
US politics is apt to conflate disagreements about whether a policy is good or bad with disputes about whether it is constitutional. Reactions to the Supreme Court’s ruling on President Donald Trump’s tariffs are a good example.
Most commentators seem drawn to one of two positions: The tariffs are either bad policy and an abuse of presidential power, or good policy and constitutionally proper. Yet the criteria in question have little to do with each other.