'Destined to lose': Expert says Trump is 'out on a limb legally' on key issue

A former assistant United States attorney predicted on Monday that President Donald Trump is going to lose at the Supreme Court when it comes to one of his most important cases.

“This all goes back to the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, ratified in 1868 after the end of the Civil War,” CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig told anchor Jake Tapper. “That provision tells us that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States. Over the past 158 years, we have understood that broadly — in our courts and Congress — to mean if you're born here, you're a citizen regardless of your parents' status.”

From there, Honig explained where Trump is attempting to find wording in the text of the Constitution to justify repealing birthright citizenship.

“Trump's argument hinges on that one phrase: ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof,’” Honig told Tapper. “What he's saying is it should not apply — the child is not a citizen if the parents are here illegally or temporarily, because then they're subject to some other country. But that argument is fairly ridiculous and had a real hard time at oral argument. If someone's here illegally from Mexico, are they still subject to US jurisdiction? Yes. Can they be arrested in the US? Yes. Can they be taxed? Yes. So there was real skepticism toward Trump's position at the Supreme Court argument back in April.”

When Tapper asked Honig how he anticipates the Supreme Court ruling on that case, he said he hesitates to make prediction but added he is also “very confident this case is going to go against Donald Trump. [CNN chief legal affairs correspondent] Paula Reid has reported that Trump's own lawyers expect it to go against him. I agree with that. I think this could be a seven-to-two ruling — could be even more against him. I think he's so far out on a limb here legally. I think he's destined to lose this tomorrow.”

In April Honig said he expects Trump to lose the birthright citizenship case because “his administration lawyers are making arguments that are vast stretches of law. Arrayed against his legal position is the plain text of the Constitution.” A number of judges have upheld the current interpretation of it including “four federal district court judges, three federal circuits have all ruled against the Trump administration. So if he does, in fact choose to attend, Kaitlan, it will indeed be unprecedented. I think it’s gonna be hard to ignore the fact that he’s in the room. I do not think it will have any influence on the judges. And I think when he leaves that courthouse tomorrow, if he does go, he’s gonna be in a bad mood."

Birthright citizenship is not the only source of Honig’s first harsh criticism of the Trump administration. In April he denounced former Attorney General Pam Bondi as an "abject failure” for refusing to fully release the files related to the late child sex trafficker and longtime Trump friend Jeffrey Epstein.

"I think Pam Bondi's legacy as an attorney general will be as an abject failure,” Honig said at the time. “And I think there's broad agreement on that. Start with the Epstein files.” He later added that “everyone on both sides of the aisle agrees that she badly mishandled the Epstein files. As Evan [Pérez] and Jeff [Zeleny] just noted, she was the one who brought this back to the fore by making these grand promises about disclosing the Epstein files that ultimately she could not fulfill.”

Honig continued, "When Congress passed a law requiring the DOJ to produce the Epstein files, she completely botched it. DOJ acted more than a month late. They over-redacted the names that should not have been taken out. They redacted. They left victim information there. When she testified about this a month or so ago in front of Congress, it was an utter disaster. She embarrassed herself.”

In April Honig also blasted then-deputy attorney general Todd Blanche for refusing to investigate civil rights violations in the shooting death of Minneapolis mom Renee Nicole Good by ICE officials.

"How on earth can the number two prosecutor at the United States Justice Department, on the basis of essentially zero investigation, six days after this fatal shooting happened, declare, as he has now done, case over?" Honig asked.

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