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President Donald Trump appeared in the U.S. Supreme Court chamber’s public seating area on Wednesday to watch oral arguments involving his administration’s push to overturn protections for birthright citizenship, the Associated Press reported. People in the courtroom spoke in whispers and craned their necks to watch as Trump took a front-row seat. He remained silent with his hands in his lap, and the justices did not acknowledge him.
Trump came with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who were there as the administration prepared its case, according to the AP account. For the next hour and a half, Trump listened as the justices—both liberal and conservative—asked questions of the administration’s lawyer. The AP said several of the justices, including three Trump nominated to the court, expressed doubt about the restrictions the administration sought.
During the opposing party’s arguments, Trump got up and left the courtroom, the AP said. An hour later, Trump posted on social media, writing: “We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow ‘Birthright’ Citizenship!” The AP said the post reflected the more direct criticism Trump has made of the court and several justices.
The argument at the center of the hearing concerns whether the president’s executive order would remove constitutional and statutory protection for birthright citizenship, the AP reported. About three dozen countries guarantee citizenship to children born on their territory, the AP said, adding that Trump’s post singled out the U.S. approach.
The AP also described Trump’s broader pattern of criticism toward the court. It said Trump recently expressed shame about six justices who joined a 6-3 majority that ruled much of his tariff agenda is illegal, and that he questioned the patriotism of those justices. The AP said Trump was especially upset about the votes of Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, two of his appointees, and that he called them “an embarrassment to their families.”
Chief Justice John Roberts did not mention Trump by name last month when he warned about the danger of personal attacks on federal judges and said “it’s got to stop,” the AP reported. If Trump’s in-person attendance was aimed at intimidation, legal experts told the AP they doubted it would work.
Constitutional law professor Adam Winkler of UCLA told the AP that justices “pride themselves in their independence, even if some agree with much of Trump’s agenda.” Harvard Law constitutional law professor Richard Re also told the AP that Trump’s presence was “somewhat like a reversal of the justices’ frequent appearances at the State of the Union address.” Re said, “I don’t think the justices will be intimidated, no matter what the president does.”
The AP said Trump’s attendance also added a heightened sense of theater to an otherwise staid setting, and it noted that the actor Robert DeNiro, a Trump critic, was seated in the courtroom’s guest box reserved for friends and family. The two men did not speak.