What President Trump gets wrong, and probably right, in his latest Supreme Court rant

President Donald Trump is probably correct when he predicts he will lose the birthright citizenship case. But his Supreme Court analysis could otherwise use some work.

This Video Is Trending Right Now →

In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, the president called the tariffs case he lost in February “an unnecessary and expensive slap in the face to the U.S.A., and a giant victory for its opponents. If they rule against our Country on Birthright Citizenship, which they probably will, it will be even worse, if that’s possible.”

In a sign of his fixation, Trump attended the birthright citizenship hearing earlier this month, an apparent first for a sitting president. When he sat before the justices, he seemed to pick up on the same takeaway as other observers: The high court seems poised to strike down his executive order, which purports to redefine what it means to be an American citizen. The court’s decision is expected later in the spring or early summer.

Even before the April 1 hearing, the president discussed the case negatively in the same breath as the tariffs case, further suggesting that he has long known the citizenship appeal will likely join the tariffs dispute as another rare, but significant, defeat for his administration at the court.

Yet the president continues to marvel at how he lost the tariffs case, and will likely lose the citizenship case, at a court where six of the nine justices were appointed by Republicans, three of whom were appointed by him.

It’s in that marveling that his analysis starts to unravel.