Are you guys sitting down? Because it’s possible — possible — that Donald Trump might be full of shit. I know, I know. But hear me out.
After losing his challenge to the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship on a 5-4 or 6-3 (or maybe 7-2?) decision, Donald Trump loudly and proudly demanded the Supreme Court give him a do-over. Would the administration find success seeking a rehearing from the same justices that just swatted it down? Highly unlikely since the Court last granted rehearing in an argued case in 1965, and the last time it reheard a case and actually reversed its decision was in 1956. And that 1956 case still marks the only time in history such an effort has succeeded.
Trump nonetheless made sure everyone on social media knew that he’d found a new development in the case, in the form of a hospital in Texas that used the Supreme Court’s decision as a basis to advertise baby deliveries to migrants seeking to give birth on American soil. The only problem was the hospital did NOT do that and what he thinks it did happened in 2021.
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Alas, given this administration’s willingness to run head first into the studs with its legal arguments, we all expected the rehearing request would arrive forthwith.
But just like the mass wave of criminal immigrants surging across the border… it was never actually real.
[Sad trombone.]
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My personal conspiracy theory here is that this rehearing circus sideshow fell victim to Todd Blanche’s repeated failures before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The administration believed — despite all indications to the contrary — that Blanche would cruise through confirmation just like he did last year for the Deputy AG job and the Attorney General position could be all sewn up in time for the rehearing deadline.
Instead, his vote is still getting carried over and someone with more sense than traditionally displayed by the Trump Peanut Gallery decided the last thing they needed was to put Blanche on camera trying to explain how a hospital ad from five years ago made for a good faith rehearing on a legal theory that’s been roundly rejected for over a century.
Either that or the Solicitor General’s office just miscounted days, which is honestly just as likely.
Earlier: Trump Calls Supreme Court ‘Absolutely Insane’ And Then Asks For Birthright Citizenship Do-Over
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.