A brief but devastating exchange between Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Solicitor General John Sauer during Wednesday's Supreme Court arguments likely determined the fate of President Donald Trump's birthright citizenship challenge, according to legal analysts.
Barrett challenged Sauer's central argument that children are not entitled to birthright citizenship if their parents lack "domicile" status in the United States. She asked what would happen to the children of enslaved people forcibly brought to America.
Barrett noted that enslaved people hardly had "intent to remain" in a country they were dragged to in chains, completely undermining Sauer's theory. The proposed argument, she explained, contradicts the 14th Amendment's purpose of granting citizenship to formerly enslaved people and their descendants.
Sauer had no response.
Legal analyst Marc Joseph Stern stated Sauer "completely lost the case" in that moment.
Fellow analyst Evan Bernick predicted the Court will rule against Trump 7-2, with Barrett leading the opposition to the administration's arguments.
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