'Major questions': Conservative Supreme Court justice warns of Trump's unchecked power
President Donald Trump disembarks Air Force One as he arrives at Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida on Nov. 5, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch Wednesday warned of President Donald Trump's unchecked power, saying there are "major questions."

The conservative justice and Trump appointee pressed lawyers to define the limits of executive power and expressed concern over giving the president unlimited authority as the Supreme Court started hearing arguments on Trump's tariffs, according to Newsweek.

He pointed to the "nondelegation" doctrines, asking Solicitor General Sauer to distinguish boundaries in response to the Trump administration's "broad defense of its tariff powers."

Gorsuch also voiced a warning of “a one-way ratchet toward the gradual but continual accretion of power in the executive branch and away from the people’s elected representatives."

Sauer said that a future president could declare climate change a national emergency and use tariffs to try and address it, which was "a scenario that appeared to underscore Gorsuch’s warning about unchecked executive authority," Newsweek reports.