STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The Supreme Court has questioned the lawyers in a case on birthright citizenship. The court heard a challenge to the long-settled meaning of the Constitution's 14th Amendment.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
It says, quote, "all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States." The Trump administration asked the justices to discover an exception to those words, and the president himself came to watch the arguments.
INSKEEP: NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg also went to watch the arguments. Nina, good morning.
NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: How important was it that the president himself came to watch?
TOTENBERG: I'm not really sure that it was important. Trump came into the Supreme Court chamber about 10 minutes before the argument began. As far as my spotters could see - because I'm too short - he glowered the whole time, never once smiled and left after his solicitor general had finished the main part of his argument. The justices, for their part, seemed to have organized themselves more than usual and were quite determined not to let the argument go on ad infinitum, even mentioning a desire not to exceed time limits. I even had the impression that they must've met up for a few minutes at least and said how they wanted to treat Trump - respectfully, but not be his lapdogs either.
INSKEEP: And they're putting questions to John Sauer, the solicitor general of the United States, who's arguing for the government, arguing for Trump. What was the policy he was trying to defend?
TOTENBERG: President Trump has long wanted to get rid of birthright citizenship. On Day 1 of his second term, he signed an executive order barring citizenship for children born in this country to parents who are illegally here, or who are here legally but on temporary, even long-term visas. And here's Sauer trying - rather unsuccessfully, I think - to persuade Chief Justice Roberts.
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JOHN SAUER: We're in a new world now where 8 billion people are one plane ride away from having a child who's a U.S. citizen.
JOHN ROBERTS: Well, it's a new world. It's the same Constitution.
TOTENBERG: Several of the conservative justices, however, indicated major questions about how the Trump administration plan would work out in practice if there were no automatic citizenship for newborns in the United States. If we were to do that, asked Justice Gorsuch, how would you know who the father is or the mother? What if they are unmarried? Whose house do they live in? Justice Barrett also questioned the practicality of the Trump plan.
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AMY CONEY BARRETT: You're not going to know at the time of birth for some people whether they have the intent to stay or not, including U.S. citizens, by the way.
INSKEEP: OK. So sharp questions for the government. What about when the other side had its turn?
TOTENBERG: Well, the ACLU's Cecillia Wang had a lot easier time. After all, every judge to have examined the Trump policy has found it to be unconstitutional. But she was really on her game yesterday as she told the court...
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CECILLIA WANG: We can't take the current administration's policy considerations into account to try to reengineer and radically reinterpret the original meaning of the 14th Amendment.
INSKEEP: So we've heard the lawyers. What do you think is on the justices' minds?
TOTENBERG: Well, it looked to me as though Justices Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito were leaning towards the Trump administration position. No guarantees. But as for the other four conservatives and three liberals, they sort of seemed to me to be leaning the other way.
INSKEEP: A majority would be against the government, then. Nina, thanks so much.
TOTENBERG: Thank you.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Nina Totenberg. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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