Here is a brief explainer of how the court goes about drafting and issuing opinions, and how that process might be playing out in the tariffs dispute. The opinion-writing processThe Supreme Court heard oral argument in the tariffs dispute on Wednesday, Nov. 5. Which brings us to the tariffs dispute. To put it another way, if the justices hadn’t planned to take the bench before Feb. 20, they may see no reason to deviate from that plan, even for a ruling as monumental as in the tariffs dispute. Along the same lines, they could decide that the tariffs are invalid but hold either that they will not apply going forward (ruling out refunds for tariffs that had already been paid) or delay the implementation of their ruling, giving Congress time to enact a solution.