Trump attends Supreme Court birthright citizenship arguments : NPR

President Trump became the first sitting president to attend oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, when he showed up to watch proceedings in a case challenging one of his executive orders.

Trump’s motorcade arrived at the court just before 10 a.m. ET, as reflected on his public schedule for the day. He disappeared into a relative black box, as the Supreme Court strictly prohibits cameras and other electronic devices. His motorcade departed around 11:20, as Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrapped up his opening argument in favor of the administration and the American Civil Liberties Union prepared to make its opposing case.

Barbara v. Trump revolves around an executive order that Trump signed on the first day of his second term, seeking to deny automatic citizenship to babies born in the U.S. to parents who were in the country either illegally or temporarily. It hasn’t gone into effect because multiple lower courts immediately ruled it unconstitutional.

The legal principle of birthright citizenship — which makes anyone born within the U.S. or its territories a citizen — has been widely interpreted as being enshrined in the Constitution since the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868. Trump’s order was immediately hit with lawsuits, including from immigrants’ rights groups and states’ attorneys general, and lower court rulings blocked it from taking effect.

The Trump administration, which argues that the amendment has been interpreted too broadly, appealed those rulings to the Supreme Court, which agreed to weigh in. It’s expected to issue a decision at the end of its term in late June or early July.

This is not the first time one of Trump’s policies has come before the nation’s highest court: The Supreme Court considered some two dozen emergency cases involving his administration’s actions in 2025 alone (and most often ruled in his favor).

But this is the first time Trump — or any sitting president — has been in the audience for oral arguments.

Presidents have occasionally interacted with the court directly, including attending oath ceremonies or welcome events for justices they appointed, as Trump did for Neil Gorsuch in 2017. And at least eight presidents argued cases before the Supreme Court in their careers as lawyers, according to the American Bar Association. But, the historical record indicates, none have commuted in from the White House just to listen, until now.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he planned to go in person “because I have listened to this argument for so long.”

While seating is open to the public, the president’s presence is controversial, as it could be interpreted as an attempt to put pressure on justices. The court is designed to be an independent check on the White House, though it is currently made up of a 6-3 conservative supermajority.

Even Trump himself has acknowledged that his attendance could be distracting, as he explained his decision not to sit in on oral arguments in a different case last year.

Trump decided not to attend oral arguments last year 

Trump publicly flirted with the idea of attending Supreme Court arguments in U.S. businesses’ case against his global tariffs last November.

“If we don’t win that case, we will be a weakened, troubled, financial mess for many, many years to come,” he told reporters in the Oval Office in October. “That’s why I think I’m going to go to the Supreme Court to watch.”

That plan was criticized by some Democratic lawmakers and even one Trump ally, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who told Politico he thought it was a mistake: “Some may interpret it as an attempt to put pressure on the justices, and I think if the justices receive it that way, I’m not saying they will or they won’t, but if they do perceive it that way, I think it will backfire.”

Trump reversed course days later, tucking the news midway through a lengthy Truth Social post about the case itself.

“I will not be going to the Court on Wednesday in that I do not want to distract from the importance of this Decision,” he wrote.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ended up attending oral arguments. The Supreme Court ruled against Trump’s tariffs by a 6-3 vote in February.

Shortly after, Trump held a press conference excoriating the three conservative judges who sided against him — particularly Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, whom he appointed to the bench — calling them disloyal and unpatriotic.

When asked on Tuesday which justices he would be listening to most closely, Trump said “I love a few of them, I don’t like some others.”

He again characterized Republican-nominated justices who rule against him as stupid and disloyal, while alleging that justices chosen by Democratic presidents rule against him on principle.

“You could have the greatest case ever, they’re gonna rule against you,” he said. “They always do.”