Conservative says 'Trump has accepted' Supreme Court can 'block him' as 'large' loss looms

President Donald Trump is bracing for the Supreme Court to issue two major blows to his administration, political analysts have suggested.

In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order stripping certain babies born in the United States of citizenship rights. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the constitutionality of this order in March 2026, with Trump attacking "dumb judges and justices" on social media as the case proceeded.

The Supreme Court's 6-3 decision in June 2025 essentially allowed Trump's birthright citizenship order to proceed, though it limited lower courts' ability to issue nationwide injunctions.

The court also determined that Trump's implementation of sweeping tariffs exceeded his constitutional authority, striking down key provisions of his trade agenda. The decision effectively constrained Trump's ability to unilaterally impose tariffs on trading partners without congressional approval.

The New York Times's Ross Douthat said, "So, most likely there’ll be some victories for Trump, but there’ll be two really large defeats — birthright citizenship and tariffs. Both are very big issues. Birthright citizenship is more important to the Republican base or the conservative base. Tariffs are obviously close to Trump’s own heart.

"A year ago there was a lot of conversation, including on this show, about what it would take for Trump to defy the court. In practice, you’ve had a sequence of setbacks for the president that have been met by angry tirades on social media. Some attempts to do end-arounds. But basically, Trump has accepted the power of the court to block him.

"Does that continue? Is there any scenario where Trump acts, Andrew Jackson–style, in defiance of the Supremes?" NYT guest Sarah Isgur went on to profile the likely reaction from Trump, and he may be defeated by the Supreme Court on these two issues.

"I’m saying, for the cases that we have pending to talk about, there’s not really an option to defy the court," Isgur said. "The court has really been defined over the course of our entire American experiment by being at odds with powerful presidents.

"My argument would be this has actually built its legitimacy as an independent branch. There’s only been 17 chief justices, and there’s been like 50 presidents. These guys look around and are like: We will outlast you and the next guy and the next guy. No problem.

"On birthright citizenship, for instance, if the Supreme Court, as I predict, says, “No, Donald Trump cannot do that through executive order,” that’s sort of the end of it for Donald Trump."