Sara Albrecht | June 9, 2026
(FDI Intelligence)
It has become fashionable, especially outside the US, to question whether American democracy still works. I understand why. Our politics are loud, our institutions are tested constantly and our disagreements often spill into public view in ways that can look chaotic, even alarming. But sometimes what looks like dysfunction is actually the system doing exactly what it was designed to do.
That is what happened when small businesses challenged the recent tariff schemes imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Section 122 of the Trade Act. For much of the world, the US’s tariff battles have been viewed through the lens of geopolitics, global markets and presidential power. But behind the headlines is a simpler, more human story: small business owners stood up to the federal government and said it did not have the power to do this. And the courts agreed.
These were not multinational corporations with armies of lawyers and endless cash reserves. They were family businesses, importers, manufacturers, retailers and entrepreneurs. They were people trying to keep their shelves stocked, their employees paid and their companies alive. For many of them, the tariffs were not an abstract policy debate. They were bills they could not afford, imposed without the constitutional authority Congress is required to provide.
Democratic government is not supposed to be frictionless. The point is not to avoid conflict. The point is to resolve conflict through law rather than raw power
The US’s founders gave Congress — not the president — the power to impose taxes and tariffs. They did so deliberately. They had lived under concentrated executive power, and they built a system meant to prevent it from returning in another form. The US constitution was not written for easy moments. It was written for conflict: for moments when presidents, Congress, courts and citizens disagree over where power begins and where it ends.
That is exactly what happened here. The president claimed broad authority. Small businesses challenged him. The courts reviewed the law and said ‘no’: emergency powers are not blank cheques and the constitution still sets the rules. For anyone wondering whether American democracy still works, this is an answer. It worked. Not perfectly, not quickly and not quietly. But it worked. Ordinary citizens were able to take the federal government to court. Judges were able to review the president’s actions. And the Constitution was enforced.
That may look messy from abroad. Frankly, it often feels messy here at home. But democratic government is not supposed to be frictionless. The point is not to avoid conflict. The point is to resolve conflict through law rather than raw power.
Uniquely American
There is another uncomfortable part of this story. Many large corporations stayed quiet. Some could absorb the tariff costs, some passed them on to consumers and some waited to see who would win. And now, many stand to benefit from the legal ground that smaller businesses helped clear. That raises a question worth asking: what responsibility comes with that benefit?
Free markets do not defend themselves, and neither do constitutional limits. They depend on people and institutions willing to stand up to the government when it exceeds its lawful authority. In this case, much of that burden fell on small businesses.
As the US approaches its 250th anniversary, that feels especially fitting. This country was not built only by presidents, generals and wealthy institutions. It was built by farmers, merchants, tradesmen, printers, craftsmen and small business owners: people who knew that liberty required vigilance. Their modern counterparts are still doing that work.
There is something uniquely American about a small company being able to walk into court and challenge unlawful action by the most powerful office in the world. That is not a defect in our system. It is the best of our system.
The lesson from these tariff cases is not that US leaders never over-reach. Of course they do. The lesson is that Americans still have the tools to stop them when they do. And this time, small businesses and a small non-profit picked up those tools and used them.
To read this article at its source, click here.
To learn more about the Tariffs cases, click here.