President Donald Trump made an extraordinary appearance Wednesday for Supreme Court arguments — an American presidential first — as his administration seeks to unwind birthright citizenship during two hours of dramatic oral arguments.

The Supreme Court voiced strong pushback against efforts to restrict who can be called an American, a politically divisive case over automatic citizenship for some children born in the United States to foreign nationals.

Trump, wearing a red tie and dark suit, entered the courtroom around nine minutes before the court gaveled into session and did not speak during the session, per court rules.

He closed his eyes for brief times during the session, but looked alert and focused throughout his time in the courtroom, staying for the entire oral presentation by his Solicitor General John Sauer, which lasted about 65 minutes.

THE SUPREME COURT IS GOING TO GIVE PRESIDENT TRUMP A MAJOR OPENING ON IMMIGRATION

Chief Justice John Roberts did not acknowledge the president’s appearance.

Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Attorney General Pam Bondi were in the front row of the public section and passed some notes to one another before Trump left the courtroom around 11:19 a.m. ET, seven minutes or so into the ACLU lawyer Cecilia Wang’s oral presentation. Trump left without commenting.

Trump later issued a Truth Social post saying, «We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow ‘Birthright’ Citizenship!»

Trump heard a majority of justices taking turns expressing varying levels of skepticism at the administration’s claim that the citizenship «privilege» has been historically abused and wrongly granted to those whose mother gave birth while in the country illegally or temporarily.

At issue is the executive order the president signed on his first day back in office to redefine birthright citizenship, part of a broader crackdown on immigration that has led to increased deportations and decreased admittance of refugees and asylum seekers at the border.

JOHN YOO: SUPREME COURT SHOWDOWN EXPOSES SHAKY CASE AGAINST BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP

In the first Supreme Court argument appearance by a sitting president, most of the bench appeared to agree with the post-Civil War’s 14th Amendment — and subsequent congressional laws and Supreme Court precedent — all support the idea of making citizens of everyone born in the country, regardless of immigration status.

Roberts, appointed by Republican George W. Bush, questioned the government’s legal position when it came to the 14th Amendment’s limited exceptions to citizenship.

«The examples you give to support that strike me as very quirky,» Roberts said. «You know, children of ambassadors, children of enemies during a hostile invasion, children on warships — and then you expand it to a whole class of illegal aliens who are here in the country.

«I’m not quite sure how you can get to that big group from such tiny, and sort of idiosyncratic, examples.»

Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wondered how determining citizenship would be applied in practical terms if immigrant mothers gave birth.

SUPREME COURT’S SHOWDOWN ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP DECISION COULD RESHAPE AMERICA

«How does this work?» Jackson asked U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer. «Are you suggesting that when a baby is born, people have to have documents present? Documents? Is this happening in the delivery room?

«How are we determining when or whether a newborn child is a citizen of the United States under your rule?»

Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Sameul Alito — both confirmed to the bench before Trump’s first administration — sounded mostly likely to back Trump’s position.

«How much of the debates around the 14th Amendment had anything to do with immigration?» Thomas asked early in the argument, saying it was designed to give newly freed slaves citizenship, and does not necessarily apply to children of newly arrived immigrants.

All lower federal courts that have heard various challenges to the birthright citizenship order have ruled against the administration.

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An expected definitive high-court ruling against Trump by early summer could have sweeping national implications — and possibly slow momentum — for Trump’s get-tough immigration agenda, which has become a defining feature of his second White House term.

El problema del precio del petróleo

El discurso de Trump, seguido con atención en la bolsa de Tokio. Foto Reuters

Republican leaders are rallying around President Donald Trump’s new approach to end the 47-day Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding lapse — a plan that could make the agency shutdown-proof for the rest of Trump’s term.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Wednesday that DHS will be funded along «two parallel tracks,» meaning that the president’s immigration and border security agenda will receive an influx of money through a party-line reconciliation bill. The rest of DHS is funded through the normal appropriations process.

«We operated under a belief that while our country is in the midst of an international armed conflict, Democrats might finally come to their senses and understand that defunding our homeland security agencies is beyond reckless and very dangerous,» Johnson and Thune wrote in a joint statement. «We cannot allow Democrats to any longer put the safety of the American public at risk through their open border policies, so we are taking that off the table.»

The GOP leaders added that a forthcoming budget reconciliation package will include three years of immigration enforcement and border security funding. That move could prevent Democrats from using the appropriations process as leverage over the president’s immigration agenda for the remainder of his term.

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES ERUPT OVER SENATE GOP, WHITE HOUSE DEAL AMID SAVE ACT FIGHT

The GOP leaders’ budget reconciliation push comes as Republican efforts to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) through regular order have stalled in the Senate due to widespread opposition from Democrats.

With the Senate’s 60-vote legislative threshold in place, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., effectively has veto power over DHS appropriations if he keeps his caucus in line.

To end the stalemate, Trump asked Republicans Wednesday to draft a budget reconciliation package funding immigration enforcement and border security that could pass both chambers without any Democratic support.

«We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won’t be able to stop us,» Trump wrote on Truth Social. «We will not allow them to hurt the families of these Great Patriots by defunding them.»

The president added that he wants the legislation on his desk by June 1.

The budget reconciliation process would allow Republicans to steer around Democratic opposition and pass a DHS funding bill at a simple majority threshold. Republicans narrowly passed Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act using reconciliation in June 2025 after months of intraparty squabbling.

Though ICE and the Border Patrol received an unprecedented infusion of money through Trump’s «big, beautiful» bill, certain support staff employed by both agencies have not been paid during the seven-week shutdown.

The U.S. Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Secret Service have seen a more significant lapse in appropriations, though Trump took executive action to provide back pay to TSA agents reporting to work during the funding lapse.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS PASS RIVAL DHS PLAN, SETTING UP SENATE FIGHT AS SHUTDOWN SET TO BECOME LONGEST IN HISTORY

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., indicated to reporters Monday that Trump would ultimately get behind the Senate’s preferred approach. 

«The Democrats can’t create another shutdown like they did this time,» Hoeven said, if the DHS budget reconciliation bill were to be signed into law.

The North Dakota lawmaker also disputed that a reconciliation package would take several months to put together.

«We’ll get it done as quick as you can,» Hoeven said. «I hope it’s certainly not months.»

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Republicans are considering a budget reconciliation package making Immigration and Customs Enforcement shutdown-proof. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo)

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A second reconciliation package could prove more difficult in an election year when lawmakers will have to identify spending cuts to pay for the border security and immigration funding. The strategy could also extend the funding lapse for ICE and the Border Patrol for several more months.

Amid both chambers’ planned two-week recesses, Trump told the New York Post on Tuesday he is considering calling Congress back to Washington to find a solution to the DHS shutdown.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told CNBC’s «Squawk Box» on Wednesday that a «skinny reconciliation bill» funding the department would pass both chambers once Congress resumes session in mid-April if a deal has not been reached.

House GOP leadership has previously voiced skepticism about funding immigration enforcement through a budget reconciliation package. Some conservatives have also complained about the precedent of letting Democrats decide which agencies receive funding through the normal appropriations process.

«The problem is that what they’re doing is they’re placing the burden on the Republican Party entirely to make sure that we have border security funding and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, because they’re going to try to force it into a reconciliation bill,» House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade on Friday. «That’s a very difficult task. It is a high risk gamble for us to assume that we could do that.»