Justice Gorsuch tossed out the softball of all softballs to top Trump lawyer John Sauer, and it got pretty weird. Weird, as in Sauer came to the Supreme Court wholly unprepared. Gorsuch, who has a strong record of supporting Native American sovereignty and land rights, asked Sauer, “Do you think Native Americans today are birthright citizens under your test and under your friend's test?”
Easy question, right? Welp, Sauer hit it with the intellectual equivalent of "Uhhhh... I think so? Lemme get back to you after I consult my Magic 8-Ball and maybe Google it real quick." Wow, wait until he Googles the words "Native" and "American." It will blow his mind!
"Do you think Native Americans today are birthright citizens under your test and under your friend's test?" Gorsuch asked.
"Uh, I think so," Sauer said. "I mean, obviously, they've been granted citizenship by statute."
"Put aside the statute," Gorsuch said. "Do you think they're birthright citizens?"
"No, I think the clear understanding that everybody agrees in the congressional debates is that the children of tribal Indians are not birthright citizens," Sauer replied.
"I understand that's what they said," Gorsuch said. "But your test is the domicile of the parents. And that would be the test you'd have us apply today, right?"
"Yes, yes," Sauer said. "So if a tribal Indian, for example, gives up allegiance to..."
"Are tribal Indians born today birthright citizens?" Gorsuch asked Sauer.
"I think so, on our test," Sauer said. "If they're lawfully domiciled here. I have to think that through."
Sauer is arguing a high-stakes constitutional case before the Supreme Court, and he needs time to consider whether people whose ancestors have been here for millennia might qualify as citizens by birth in the country where they were, you know, born. Peak "I studied law but forgot the part where history exists" energy. If your legal theory crumbles the second someone asks about actual Americans who predate the Constitution, maybe it's not the airtight slam-dunk you thought.
Trump, who left the Supreme Court early, weighed in on Truth Social.
"We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow “Birthright” Citizenship!" he wrote. "President DONALD J. TRUMP"
Yeah, he knows the Supreme Court isn't going to vote in his favor.
