If the reporting here at Above the Law is accurate, it would appear that the Supreme Court is going to rule that the Fourteenth Amendment means what it says, that every person born in the United States is a citizen of the United States. It is somewhat depressing to be somewhat surprised that the court may rule that words with clear meanings can mean only what they say, but we live in times when such things truly are surprising.
Trump showed up at oral argument, presumably to try to pressure the judges into ruling in his favor, but, again, judging by the contents of the article, he has only Alito for sure and Thomas most likely. That, by the way, shows how down the road to fascism we have gone, for if even two judges buy into the meaningless drivel served up by Trump’s lawyers, we are in very bad shape. Roger Taney must be spinning with delight in his grave.
One plus for us good guys that flows from Trump’s dementia mixed with narcissism, is the fact that he tends to undermine his own agenda. In this case, it can’t help that he has attacked the members of the court that ruled against him on the tariffs and that he has practically threatened them in this case. Not only is such behavior likely to cause resentment, but for some of them it may actually get them to realize that it has not been a good idea to enable his criminality in the past. After all, it’s one thing to have him committing crimes against others, but it’s another when you’re the victim. Perhaps too, it has become clear to the likes of John Roberts, as it has been clear to us hippies for years, that Trump’s ultimate aim is to neuter the courts as well as the legislature. After all, that’s what Hitler did, and like his Dad, he’s a fan.
It should nonetheless be noted that this case should never have gotten to the court, in that the court should either have refused to hear a case in which the lower courts were so clearly right, or it should have affirmed without the need for oral argument. This is yet another one of those instances in which I’m quite sure I would have gotten an F in law school had I tried to make the case Trump’s lawyers are making.