Chief Justice John Roberts signaled Wednesday that he might act as a thorn in President Donald Trump’s side.
During oral arguments over Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship, Roberts pushed back against Solicitor General John Sauer, who made the president’s argument.
Specifically, Roberts sounded skeptical that the Fourteenth Amendment, on which birthright citizenship rests, excludes children of illegal immigrants.
“Based on Chinese media reports,” Sauer said in a clip posted to the social media platform X, “there are 500 — 500 — birth-tourism companies in the People’s Republic of China, whose business is to bring people here to give birth and return to that nation.”
“Having said all that,” Roberts replied, “you do agree that that has no impact on the legal analysis before us?”
Sauer did not agree. Instead, he respectfully cited the late Justice Antonin Scalia in arguing that 19th-century Americans did not foresee such things. In other words, the people who wrote the Fourteenth Amendment did not intend it for the children of illegal immigrants.
“Well, it certainly wasn’t a problem in the 19th century,” Roberts responded.
“No,” Sauer replied, “but of course, we’re in a new world now, as Justice [Samuel] Alito pointed out, where eight billion people are one plane ride away from having a child who’s a U.S. citizen.”
“Well, it’s a new world,” Roberts conceded, “[but] it’s the same Constitution.”
Sauer again cited Scalia, at which point the exchange concluded.
US Solicitor General John Sauer: “8 Billion people are one plane ride away from having a child who is a US citizen.”
Chief Justice John Roberts: “It’s a new world, but it’s the same Constitution.” pic.twitter.com/CzFUneORSr
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) April 1, 2026
According to Axios, Trump made history Wednesday as the first sitting president to attend oral arguments.
No doubt he recognized Sauer’s argument. After all, the president has made a similar case against what he described as Chinese exploitation of birthright citizenship.
“The next thing you know they will rule in favor of China and others, who are making an absolute fortune on Birthright Citizenship, by saying the 14th Amendment was NOT written to take care of the ‘babies of slaves,’ which it was as proven by the EXACT TIMING of its construction, filing, and ratification, which perfectly coincided with the END OF THE CIVIL WAR,” a frustrated Trump wrote in February on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Furthermore, according to podcaster and SCOTUS reporter Jimmy Hoover, Roberts called Bauer’s argument “quirky.”
“After a friendly question from Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts right out of the gate expresses skepticism of the Trump administration’s central argument: that children of undocumented immigrants are not ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States,” Hoover wrote on X. “He calls the SG’s argument ‘very quirky.’”
After a friendly question from Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts right out of the gate expresses skepticism of the Trump administration’s central argument: that children of undocumented immigrants are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States.
He… https://t.co/zwwwBsJOS7
— Jimmy Hoover (@JimmyHooverDC) April 1, 2026
Since the early days of his second administration, Trump has tussled with a hostile federal judiciary.
The president has enjoyed a better — albeit still mixed — record before SCOTUS.
Through it all, Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett have acted as swing votes. If Roberts’ exchange with Sauer serves as any indication, that might prove true again.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
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