The US Supreme Court delivered a seismic and contradictory judgment on Monday, striking down Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship while simultaneously handing the president sweeping new powers to fire regulators – a decision that the BBC’s chief North America correspondent, Gary O’Donoghue, described as a “major blow” to Trump even as the president celebrated the expansion of his authority.
The birthright ruling, issued on the second-to-last day of the court’s term, declared unconstitutional Trump’s attempt to overturn a policy that has been in place for more than a century. The decision marked a clear defeat for a president who had made restricting citizenship a cornerstone of his immigration agenda.
“US Supreme Court strikes down Trump's birthright order but expands presidential removal power in mixed verdict.”
But within hours, the court delivered a victory that Trump seized upon. In a 6-3 decision split along ideological lines – the six conservative justices, including three Trump appointees, in favour; the three liberal justices dissenting – the court scrapped a nearly 100-year-old precedent that had limited presidential control over independent regulatory agencies. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion: “Subordinates who exercise the president’s power are subject to removal by him. Then, and only then, can they remain accountable to the president, and the president to the people.”
Trump reacted on Truth Social with characteristic bombast: “Ninety years of precedent has been completely and unequivocally overruled, greatly increasing presidential power at a time when it is most needed!”
The ruling directly affects the Federal Trade Commission – the same agency at issue in the 1935 case against Franklin D. Roosevelt – but its reach extends to dozens of bodies overseeing elections, communications, labour, finance and the environment. The decision is likely to accelerate the sharp policy swings already seen as power shifts between presidents of different parties.
Yet even as Trump celebrated that win, the court delivered three other defeats. It allowed late-arriving mail-in ballots, rejected Trump’s final appeal in the E Jean Carroll sex abuse case, and blocked his attempt to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook. The decisions suggest, as the BBC’s O’Donoghue noted, that the six conservative justices are not always reliable allies for this president.