Shocker! SCOTUS Schools POTUS

Opinion Columnist, reporting from Washington

This article was updated to reflect news events.

Now that the third branch of government has explained to the second branch that the first branch matters, President Trump is in a pickle.

He may need a distraction even bigger than bombing Iran and releasing secret files on U.F.O.s and aliens. He may need to produce Marvin the Martian for an Oval Office meeting and install him on the “Board of Peace.”

(Maybe it should be spelled “Bored of Peace,” since Trump seems itchy to attack Iran, and security guards protecting the Azerbaijani president, who’s on the board, were apparently beating up protesters outside the Waldorf Astoria Hotel here.)

Friday was a landmark day in the Trump reign. It was refreshing to finally see someone tell this petulant man-child: “No, you can’t do that!” And it was especially refreshing that the Supreme Court, which has been awash in its own ethics crises and acting subservient to the megalomaniac in the White House, suddenly found a spine.

The highest court firmly instructed the Emperor of Chaos on why his tariffs were unconstitutional without the blessing of Congress.

And the president responded in the way he always does when he doesn’t get his way: with a Regina George hissy fit.

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Maureen Dowd is an Opinion columnist for The Times. She won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary. She is the author, most recently, of “Notorious.” @MaureenDowd • Facebook

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