There was a potentially telling moment at the US Supreme Court on Wednesday as Chief Justice John Roberts questioned Donald Trump’s solicitor-general, John Sauer, during a hearing about birthright citizenship.
Trump, by an executive order, is seeking to unwind a long-established rule that anyone born on American soil is automatically an American citizen. That notion appears to be protected by the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
“We’re in a new world now,” Sauer argued before the court. “Eight billion people are one plane ride away from having a child who’s a US citizen.”
Roberts replied: “Well, it’s a new world – it’s the same Constitution.”
The chief justice was among several members of the bench who appeared sceptical about Trump’s attempt to unpick birthright citizenship, which the president argues was only intended to apply to the children of slaves.
Reading the tea leaves based on judicial questioning – which is, after all, their job – can be a fool’s game. But it would be fair to say the justices were as sceptical of the government’s case as they were during the tariff hearing, which in February resulted in a 6-3 decision for the challengers.
Trump was seated in the front row for much of Wednesday’s session, having been driven to the Supreme Court from the White House to hear the oral arguments in the landmark case.
He thus became the first sitting president in 250 years of American history to attend a Supreme Court hearing in person.
There were no cameras inside the courtroom. But one can still conjure the image: Trump, used to exercising total control from the world’s most powerful office, sitting in silence as the justices poked holes in his plans.
It was a reminder that the courts, certainly more so than Congress, and probably more than public opinion, remain the greatest handbrake on Trump’s ambitions to remake America.
Indeed, it was the second such reminder in two days. On Tuesday, a judge in the District of Columbia ordered Trump to cease work on his $US400 million ($578 million) White House ballroom and seek congressional approval.
Judge Richard Leon’s opinion was as colourful as it was clear. “The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” Leon wrote.
Not only was Congress the collective voice of the American people, he ruled, but the Constitution itself had expressly vested Congress with authority over federal property, including the White House. “Unless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorisation, construction has to stop.”
Trump baulked at the verdict, noting plenty of White House modifications had occurred without congressional approval, and that the ballroom was being funded by wealthy donors. He said he would appeal the decision.
It was a major blow for the president’s pet project, coming just two days before the National Capital Planning Commission – which he has stacked with acolytes – was due to consider final construction approval.
While Trump’s enthusiasm for the war in Iran appears to be waning, his interest in the ballroom is surging.
Returning to Washington from Florida on the weekend, he delighted in showing reporters on Air Force One several large renders of the building, and spoke at length about design specifications and changes.
The ballroom is much needed, with the White House currently forced to host major state dinners in makeshift outdoor tents due to capacity constraints.
“When it rains you’re in trouble,” Trump said, noting the imminent visit by King Charles III of the United Kingdom. “We don’t want him to sit in a pool of water.”
But the president’s decision to bulldoze the historic East Wing without warning put many people off side, and now leaves a giant hole in the ground while Trump fights for the ballroom in court.
Abroad, Trump has the world’s most powerful military at his disposal with few constraints. At home, however, he remains subject to (and willing to abide by) the rule of law – which, like the US Constitution, has stood the test of time.
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.