Ann E. Marimow

Can I ask you a couple questions?

Did you sleep here last night?

Yes, we did.

How early did you get here?

Yes, it was a historic day.

The first sitting president to be in the Supreme Court courtroom for an oral argument and to be sitting there as the justices were debating birthright citizenship.

So a hush came over the courtroom as the president was escorted to his seat.

The courtroom is always quiet, but this was even more quiet than usual as he walked in at that moment wearing a red tie and a dark suit and took his seat.

And it's really interesting where he was seated.

Instead of being close to the justices in the special seats reserved for their families and visiting dignitaries, he was seated in the front row for the public.

I think it's because he is one of the parties in the cases and he's not a lawyer or member of the Supreme Court bar.

So there he was in the front row of the public gallery.

There's absolutely a lot of symbolism having him there.

He had mused about showing up previously when the court took up his tariffs plan.

That was also very important to the president.

He ended up not coming and saying he didn't want to be a distraction.

But you're right.

There's been this effort, as you've seen, when the court has ruled against him.

The president has tried to intimidate the justices.

Criticize them in really harsh personal terms.