Three months after rapidly scheduled arguments, Supreme Court has yet to decide on Trump's tariffs

WASHINGTON -- When the Supreme Court granted an unusually quick hearing over President Donald Trump's tariffs, a similarly rapid resolution seemed possible.After all, Trump's lawyers told the court that speed was of the essence on an issue central to the president's economic agenda.They pointed to a statement from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warning that the “longer a final ruling is delayed, the greater the risk of economic disruption.”But nearly three months have elapsed since arguments in the closely watched case and the court isn't scheduled to meet in public for more than three weeks.No one knows for sure what is going on among the nine justices, several of whom expressed skepticism about the tariffs' legality at arguments in November.

But the timeline for deciding the case now looks more or less typical and could reflect the normal back-and-forth that occurs not just in the biggest cases, but almost all the disputes the justices hear.Several Supreme Court practitioners and law professors scoffed at the idea that the justices are dragging their feet on tariffs, putting off a potentially uncomfortable ruling against Trump.

“People suspect this kind of thing from time to time, but I am not aware of instances in which we have more than speculation,” said Jonathan Adler, a law professor at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.The timeframe alone also doesn't point to one outcome or the other.One possible explanation, said Carter Phillips, a lawyer with 91 arguments before the high court, “is that the court is more evenly divided than appeared to be the case at oral argument and the fifth vote is wavering.”Even if the majority opinion has been drafted and more or less agreed to by five or more members of the court, a separate opinion, probably in dissent, could slow things down, Phillips said.Just last week, the court issued two opinions in cases that were argued in October.

All nine justices agreed with the outcome, a situ...