1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

What exactly is the point of Congress if a president can trample the Constitution, impose illegal taxes on the American people, and face no immediate consequences from the branch charged with checking that power? For nearly a year, Americans were forced to live under tariffs that the U.S. Supreme Court has now ruled unconstitutional. Not misguided. Not controversial. Unconstitutional. Let’s be honest about what happened. Tariffs are taxes. The Constitution gives Congress — and Congress alone — the power to levy them. Yet President Donald J. Trump claimed he could bypass you by waving the banner of “emergency powers,” twisting a law never meant for this purpose into a weapon of unilateral economic control. And Congress let it happen. Americans paid more for basic goods. Businesses endured whiplash uncertainty. Markets destabilized. All while the legislative branch — the branch designed to prevent exactly this kind of overreach — hesitated, delayed, and postured. This was not a gray area. This was a constitutional breach. A president asserted powers he did not have. Extracted billions through unlawful taxation. Disrupted the economy. And dared the system to stop him. Now the Court has confirmed what should never have required confirmation: those tariffs were illegal from the start. So where is the accountability? Where is the urgency? Where is the spine? If Congress responds with nothing more than speeches and symbolic outrage, you will be sending a dangerous and disgraceful message: That constitutional limits are optional. That emergency powers are loopholes. That presidents may break the law first and face consequences later — if ever. That is not a functioning democracy. That is executive rule by intimidation and delay. Enough excuses. Enough paralysis. Congress must act immediately to: • Shut down the abuse of emergency powers • Explicitly forbid unilateral tariff taxation • Impose automatic Congressional review and approval • Create real penalties for executive overreach • Restore the authority you allowed to be undermined Because every day without reform weakens the Constitution and emboldens the next power grab. Americans are tired of paying for constitutional negligence. Tired of economic chaos triggered by political ego. Tired of watching Congress behave like a bystander to its own erosion. You swore an oath. Not to a president. Not to a party. To the Constitution. Honor it. Defend it. Or accept responsibility for the precedent you allow to stand: that the limits of presidential power exist only on paper.