Michael Barbaro

My colleague, Anne Marimo, takes us inside the room.

It's Thursday, April 2nd.

And you had a pretty coveted seat inside the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning.

And I suspect your eyes quickly fixed themselves on the presence of President Trump.

And what did it look like for him to enter that august room?

Why?

Just far enough away, perhaps, for some of the justices liking.

It feels difficult to overstate the symbolic potency of the head of the executive branch

being in this room, in the heart of the judicial branch.

And as you know well, this is a president known for very keenly understanding power and how you flex it.

And it felt to me anyway, like the president, by showing up for these oral arguments on this case, was basically saying, you all want to sit in judgment of my executive order on birthright citizenship, and therefore I'm going to sit in judgment of you as you do that.

Right.

And above all, that signal was this case is really important to the president and to his second term agenda, especially immigration.

Just briefly remind us how this case found its way into this room.

Right.

Basically saying the 14th Amendment guarantees that anyone born, with very few exceptions, on American soil is an American citizen.

Right.

And so we always understood that the administration's legal arguments in defense of this executive order were going to be potentially tough sledding.

before the entire judiciary.

So take us into these oral arguments and how they unfold.