Trump’s Latest Rant Puts His Grasp of the Constitution in Spotlight

President Donald Trump has a formal obligation to uphold the Constitution, but critics have repeatedly argued that Trump does not quite understand the fundamental law of the US. The Republican leader’s controversial executive orders and frequent outbursts against federal institutions, such as the Supreme Court, have often baffled political experts.

After the Supreme Court Of The United States (SCOTUS) deemed Trump’s imposition of tariffs unconstitutional, the president again criticized the judges. In a Truth Social post, he wrote, “The supreme court (will be using lower case letters for a while based on a complete lack of respect!) of the United States accidentally and unwittingly gave me... far more powers and strength than I had prior.”

The 79-year-old president threatened that he would use loopholes in the judgment in a ‘powerful and obnoxious way’ to impose additional tariffs and do ‘absolutely terrible things to foreign countries'.

The criticism drew a response from the American Bar Association, as the organization’s president, Michelle A. Behnke, said Trump was threatening the judiciary. She wrote, “Such statements risk undermining the rule of law and the public’s faith in an impartial judiciary.”

In a similar move, Trump earlier criticized the SCOTUS for upholding immigrants’ Fifth Amendment constitutional rights. After the court ruled that the Trump Administration needed to notify Venezuelan immigrants before their removal under the Alien Enemy Act, the president responded with insults.

Trump wrote on Truth Social in April 2025, “I’m doing what I was elected to do, remove criminals from our Country, but the Courts don’t seem to want me to do that. My team is fantastic, doing an incredible job, however, they are being stymied at every turn by even the U.S. Supreme Court.”

A few weeks later, Trump was asked by a PBS anchor whether he believed he did not need to uphold the U.S. Constitution. Trump replied, “I don’t know.” He continued, “I have to respond by saying again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me. And they are going to, obviously, follow what the Supreme Court said.”

Meanwhile, there has been debate over whether Trump has misused his powers through executive orders. Shortly after his second term began, the president made a series of divisive decisions, including attempting to ban birthright citizenship and suspending multiple inspectors general.

Critics said he was violating federal law. Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Law School professor and a longtime critic of Trump said, “Without any doubt, Donald Trump is the most lawless and scofflaw president we have ever seen in the history of the United States. [He has carried out] a blitzkrieg on the law and the constitution.”

Trump continues to face criticism over policies that opponents say are unconstitutional. But the president remains undeterred. As he signaled in his recent post, he is prepared to find ways to bypass the Supreme Court’s rulings.