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President Donald Trump made a rare appearance Wednesday at Supreme Court arguments — a first for a U.S. president — as his administration sought to revoke his birthright citizenship during two hours of dramatic oral arguments.
The Supreme Court has voiced strong opposition to efforts to limit who can be called an American, a politically divisive case that grants automatic citizenship to some children born in the United States to foreign nationals.
Trump, wearing a red tie and black suit, entered the courtroom about nine minutes before the hearing began and did not speak during the meeting, according to court rules.
He closed his eyes briefly during the session, but appeared alert and focused throughout his time in court, sitting through Solicitor General John Sauer’s oral presentation, which lasted about 65 minutes.
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President Donald Trump became the first sitting president to listen to the Supreme Court’s oral arguments live Wednesday in Washington, DC (Kent Nishimura/AFP)
Chief Justice John Roberts did not approve the appearance of the president.
Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Attorney General Pam Bondi were at the front of the public stage and exchanged notes before Trump left the courtroom around 11:19 a.m. ET, seven minutes or so into ACLU attorney Cecilia Wang’s oral presentation. Trump left without comment.
Trump later released a Truth Social post saying, “We are the only Country on Earth QUICK enough to allow ‘Birthright’ Citizenship!”
Trump heard a majority of the justices take turns expressing varying degrees of skepticism about the administration’s claim that the “right” to citizenship has historically been abused and unfairly granted to those whose mothers gave birth while in the country illegally or temporarily.
Confounding is the executive order the president signed on his first day in office to redefine birthright citizenship, part of a broader crackdown on immigration that has led to increased deportations and reduced admissions of refugees and asylum seekers at the border.
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In the first Supreme Court session of a sitting president, a majority of the bench appeared to agree with the post-Civil War 14th Amendment — and subsequent congressional legislation and Supreme Court precedent — all supporting the idea of making citizens of everyone born in the country, regardless of immigration status.
Roberts, who was appointed by Republican George W. Bush, questioned the government’s legal position when it comes to the limited 14th amendment on citizenship.
The examples you give of support really blow my mind,” said Roberts. “You know, children of diplomats, children of enemies during a brutal attack, children on board warships — and then you grow it into a whole group of illegal aliens that are here in this country.
“I’m not sure how you can get to that big of a group from such small, and kind of idiosyncratic, examples.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wondered how the citizenship determination would be applied in practical ways when immigrant mothers give birth.
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“How does this work?” Jackson asked US Solicitor General D. John Sauer. “You say that when a child is born, people must have documents? Documents? This happened in the maternity ward?
“How do we determine whether a newborn child is a citizen of the United States under your jurisdiction at any time?”
Conservative justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — both confirmed to the bench before the Trump administration — sounded like they might support Trump’s position.
“How much of the controversy surrounding the 14th amendment has to do with immigration?” Thomas asked early in the argument, saying it was designed to grant citizenship to newly freed slaves, and did not apply to the children of newly arrived immigrants.
All lower federal courts that have heard various challenges to the birth order have ruled against the administration.
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An expected high court ruling against Trump in early summer could have a major national impact — and perhaps a dampening effect — on Trump’s tough immigration agenda, which has become a defining feature of his second White House term.
