Trump's Top Lawyer Stumbles Hard On Birthright Citizenship
Justice Gorsuch tossed out the softball of all softballs to top Trump lawyer John Sauer, and it got pretty weird. Weird, as in Sauer came to the Supreme Court wholly unprepared. Gorsuch, who has a strong record of supporting Native American sovereignty and land rights, asked Sauer, “Do you think Native Americans today are birthright citizens under your test and under your friend's test?”
Easy question, right? Welp, Sauer hit it with the intellectual equivalent of "Uhhhh... I think so? Lemme get back to you after I consult my Magic 8-Ball and maybe Google it real quick." Wow, wait until he Googles the words "Native" and "American." It will blow his mind!
"Do you think Native Americans today are birthright citizens under your test and under your friend's test?" Gorsuch asked.
"Uh, I think so," Sauer said. "I mean, obviously, they've been granted citizenship by statute."
"Put aside the statute," Gorsuch said. "Do you think they're birthright citizens?"
"No, I think the clear understanding that everybody agrees in the congressional debates is that the children of tribal Indians are not birthright citizens," Sauer replied.
"I understand that's what they said," Gorsuch said. "But your test is the domicile of the parents. And that would be the test you'd have us apply today, right?"
"Yes, yes," Sauer said. "So if a tribal Indian, for example, gives up allegiance to..."
"Are tribal Indians born today birthright citizens?" Gorsuch asked Sauer.