The Supreme Court of the United States is expected in the coming fortnight to hand down rulings in some of President Donald Trump’s most closely watched fights, with decisions on his effort to restrict birthright citizenship and his attempt to remove Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook among the cases at the top of the list. The next ruling day is set for Thursday, and 20 cases remain before the justices wrap up their current term.
Those rulings would land after a term in which the court has already shown a willingness to back Trump on some power questions and rein him in on others. In February, the justices blocked his sweeping tariffs on imports from around the world, prompting Trump to criticize members of the 6-3 conservative majority, including two he appointed. Weeks later, he sat in the courtroom for the birthright citizenship argument in April, becoming the first sitting president to attend a Supreme Court oral argument.
Trump used that appearance to press his case in blunt terms. He said the United States could not live with what he called the “shackles” of birthright citizenship, arguing it was not sustainable and that no other country of consequence does it. Last week, he returned to the issue again on Truth Social, keeping the pressure on justices who have not yet said how they will resolve it.
Cook’s case may offer the clearest glimpse of where the court is headed. Trump has tried to remove her from office over mortgage fraud allegations that she denies, but the court already refused to let him do so immediately last fall. That points to a likely loss for Trump on the question of whether he can oust a Federal Reserve governor on demand, even as the Fed’s long tradition of independence hangs over the dispute. Trump recently appointed Kevin Warsh to be the new chairman of the board, underscoring how much control over the central bank he still seeks.
The sharper break may come elsewhere. The court also appears poised to side with Trump’s broader effort to make it easier to fire officials at other independent agencies without giving a reason, a move tied to the removal of Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. The justices allowed her firing to take effect in September, a sign that the court has been increasingly receptive to presidential power over agencies outside the White House’s direct chain of command.
That is the split to watch when the rulings arrive: the court may turn Trump away on birthright citizenship and on Lisa Cook, while still giving him a bigger win on the structure of the federal government itself. The term runs until the end of June, but with Thursday’s ruling day ahead and major opinions still on the docket, the next few days are likely to tell how far the court is willing to go in accommodating a more aggressive presidency.
