President Donald Trump watched as his solicitor general desperately tried to find a reasonable defense of his birthright citizenship executive order
At one point, reporter Manu Raju played a clip of Chief Justice John Roberts making it clear to Solicitor General John Sauer that his argument "has no impact on the legal analysis before us."
"Yeah, that was not a great sign for the Trump administration," said CNN reporter Paula Reid about Roberts' observation.
The other thing that didn't matter much, she said, was Trump's presence in the courtroom.
"It was clear over the past few hours that the justices, the majority of them, are deeply skeptical about his executive order limiting birthright citizenship. Even the three conservative justices he appointed do not appear to be willing to side with his administration's interpretation of the 14th Amendment," said Reid.
Reid noted that things appeared even worse once conservatives began asking the ACLU lawyer how they should write their decision.
The legal commentators were just as brutal.
"Oh, it was bad, Manu," said legal analyst Elliot Williams, a former federal prosecutor. "And let's be clear — and Paula touched on a very important point here. Even the mildly skeptical questions you started getting toward the end of the day from Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Justice [Brett] Kavanaugh — really, I think, and this was Paula's point about how they're going to write their opinions, whether they concur with the decision, write something else, or join the majority."
"This was a blowout of the sort that we don't really see that often," he added. "You could see an 8 to 1 decision here. It's not out of the question. Certainly, there are five votes that were quite skeptical of the president and probably more. This was just not good."
Raju played one exchange between Sauer and Justice Neil Gorsuch about Native Americans. Gorsuch has a history of being supportive of Native communities, particularly when it comes to sovereignty, so it isn't out of the blue that he asked a question specifically about tribal lands.
Still, Sauer answered by saying, "Uhh, I think so. I mean, obviously, they've been granted citizenship by statute."
"Outside the statute," Gorsuch probed. "Do you think they're birthright citizens?"
"No, I think the clear understanding that everybody agrees on in the congressional debates is that the children of tribal Indians are not birthright citizens," Sauer said.
"I understand that's what they said. But your test is the domicile of the parents, and that would be the test," said Gorsuch. "You'd have us apply today. Right?"
Ultimately, Sauer answered, "Uh, I think so, on our test, if they were lawfully domiciled here. Uh, I'm not sure. I have to think that through."
Raju said simply, "That was bad."
Williams explained it goes to the very heart of Trump's argument, which hinges on the idea that children of diplomats and some native Americans were not considered to be citizens in the congressional debates over the 14th Amendment. Sauer wasn't prepared to answer the question.
Doing that, he said, "is literally like going into a court where Winnie the Pooh is the judge and not being prepared for an answer about a question about honey. It's just so obvious."
Raju and Williams agreed it was "shocking" that Sauer wouldn't expect that, given Gorsuch's history.
"He probably couldn't give the answer because he knew he'd be giving away the farm if he did say that and had to hedge a little bit," said Williams. "But that is indicative of how bad today was."
White House correspondent Alayna Treene addressed Trump's looming presence in the courtroom, which she said had never been done before.
"The president expects loyalty," she noted, recalling that Trump has even said it publicly that he expects it from the judges he appointed. "His presence there was kind of to remind them, I put you there. Now, did that work? No. Obviously, we saw how this played out."
Washington bureau chief Tia Mitchell for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution called the whole ordeal interesting, given that Trump was there "watching them basically eat the solicitor general alive in front of everyone."