The Other 98%

Today, in a move that's never been done before in American history, trump showed up in person to the Supreme Court to watch his own administration's lawyer get absolutely worked over for two hours straight. When Solicitor General John Sauer tried to argue the world had changed since the 14th Amendment was written, Chief Justice John Roberts shut him down cold: "Well, it's a new world. It's the same Constitution." Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson went after the practical absurdity of the whole scheme, asking Sauer point blank: "Is this happening in the delivery room?" And then there was Amy Coney Barrett, a trump appointee, who cornered Sauer on his own theory about the 14th Amendment existing to protect freed slaves. She told him bluntly: "That's not textual. How do you get there?" When Sauer tried to pivot to federal law, Barrett cut right through it: "Yeah, but what about the Constitution?"

Trump slipped out about 75 minutes in, right as his own lawyer wrapped up, and never stuck around to hear the ACLU dismantle what was left of the administration's case. Within the hour he was rage posting on Truth Social that the U.S. is the "only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow Birthright Citizenship," which is factually wrong. More than 30 countries have unrestricted birthright citizenship, including Canada and Mexico. The optics of a sitting president storming out of his own Supreme Court hearing early, then immediately venting incorrect information online, tell you everything you need to know about how badly the morning went for his team.

Every single lower court that has examined this executive order has struck it down as unconstitutional, and after today's arguments, the Supreme Court looks ready to do the same. The administration's argument was built on a historical theory that even trump's own justices didn't buy, and the justices he put on that bench were some of the loudest voices tearing it apart. A ruling is expected by early summer, and if today was any preview, trump's attempt to rewrite 158 years of settled constitutional law is headed straight for the same fate as every other court that has looked at it.