SCOTUS Ruled Against Trump at Noon. By 5 PM, He'd Already Done Something About It
SCOTUS blocked Trump's tariffs, but he signed a new 10% global tariff order under a different law hours later. DOGE released 7 years of Medicaid data. ACA tax credits passed the House.
HIGH ALERT
A Supreme Court loss on tariffs followed within hours by a new executive order using a different legal authority — plus a DOGE Medicaid data dump, a surprise ACA vote in the House, and a major Jack Smith filing — makes this one of the more eventful single news cycles of 2026 so far.
Key Developments
Here's something you almost never see in American politics.
The Supreme Court rules against the President of the United States.
And within hours, **the President signs a brand-new executive order** that puts the same tariffs back on the table — just under a different law.
That's your February 21, 2026 in a nutshell.
The Court's ruling came down today, and it was decisive.
The justices blocked Trump's tariff regime, which had been imposed using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act — known as IEEPA.
For most presidents, that would be the end of the story.
But Trump had a backup plan ready.
Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — a separate legal authority that allows a president to impose a **temporary 10% global tariff** in response to balance-of-payments concerns.
Trump invoked it immediately.
According to posts circulating widely on X, Trump announced: "All tariffs stay. A 10% global tariff goes into effect today."
It's worth noting the timeline here: the original 10% global tariff executive order was actually signed on February 20 — one day before today's Supreme Court ruling — with an effective date of February 24. Today, Trump announced on social media a potential hike to 15%, but no new order formalizing that number has been signed yet.