Trump v the Supreme Court

Summary

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The Story — Trump v the Supreme Court

Podcast: The Story | Host: The Times (Manveen Rana)
Date: July 2, 2026
Episode Theme:
A deep dive into the contentious relationship between President Trump and the U.S. Supreme Court, focusing on recent landmark decisions, the evolving balance of power among U.S. institutions, and what it all means for American democracy.

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Episode Overview

The episode explores the culmination of the Supreme Court’s spring term, spotlighting several major verdicts—particularly on birthright citizenship, executive power, campaign finance, and transgender athlete participation in sports. Host Manveen Rana and Times Washington Correspondent George Grylls break down these cases, examining the political and constitutional stakes and the dynamics of a conservative-majority court during Trump’s presidency.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Supreme Court’s Composition and Power

• Composition: The Court stands at a 6-3 conservative majority, with three justices appointed by Trump (05:00).
• Checks and Balances: Though one party (Republicans) currently controls the Executive, both Congressional chambers, and the Supreme Court, one-party dominance is historically rare and may soon end, depending on the midterms.

“The American system is designed where you've basically got this kind of triangle of government that is kind of controlling the U.S.” — George Grylls [04:39]

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2. Trump’s Ambitious Attack on Birthright Citizenship

• The Case: Trump signed an executive order in 2025 to end birthright citizenship—jus soli—arguing that current law is outdated and exploited by migrants, especially targeting undocumented families and foreign “birth tourists.” (06:58)
• Ruling: The court emphatically ruled against Trump (either 6-3 or 5-4; Kavanaugh dissented on the process, not the principle), affirming that the 14th Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship and cannot be overridden by executive order. (09:16)

"The Constitution is not something simply that a president can change by executive order." — George Grylls [09:16]

• Constitutional Limits: Only Congressional and constitutional amendments, not unilateral executive action, can alter such foundational rights.

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3. Mixed Court Rulings: Trump Wins and Losses

• Trump’s Setbacks:
  • Struck down his attempt to end birthright citizenship (see above)
  • Blocked Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose blanket tariffs on numerous countries (including a comically irrelevant “penguin colony”) (12:03)

“The Supreme Court said, no, you can’t just randomly use emergency powers to impose these tariffs.” — George Grylls [12:03]

• Major Trump Wins:
  • Immigration Protections: Court sides with the administration, refusing protections from deportation for some Haitian and Syrian immigrants (10:51).
  • Campaign Finance: Court lifts restrictions on party spending, favoring Republican fundraising ahead of midterms (10:51).

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4. Spotlight Case: Transgender Athletes in Women’s Sports

• The Rulings: The court upheld decisions in Idaho and West Virginia banning trans athletes from women’s sports, sparking debate over gender identity policy in schools (14:49).
• Political Ramifications: The decision is framed as a symbolic Trump victory; trans issues became a major wedge in the 2024 campaign.

“Kamala Harris is for they them, and President Trump is for you.” — George Grylls, on Republican messaging [15:47]

• Legal Nuance: The court ruled on permissibility, not necessity—future lawsuits likely (15:31).

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5. Presidential Power Over Independent Agencies

• Question: Can the president fire leaders of independent regulatory agencies “on a whim”? (17:52)
  • Agencies Impacted: EPA, FDA, SEC, FTC, among others (18:07)
  • Fed Carve-Out: The Federal Reserve specifically protected; the president cannot dismiss its chair, acknowledging its central economic role and need for stability (19:04).
• Decision Split:
  • Fed Governor (Lisa Cook): Trump cannot fire (5-4)
  • All Other Agencies: Trump can dismiss heads (6-3) [20:52]
• Balance of Power: The ruling further politicizes regulatory agencies, reducing checks on presidential authority, though severe encroachment on the Fed was avoided. (21:32)

“It removes another layer of accountability... It’s part of this slow politicization of the kind of remaining independent agencies that exist in the US to kind of buttress against autocracy effectively.” — George Grylls [21:32]

• Future Outlook: With midterms looming, Trump’s grip may loosen, and the Supreme Court’s independence—albeit limited—is reaffirmed by its choices on crucial issues.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “He walked into a grand courtroom... the case was birthright citizenship, the right of anyone born on US soil to become a US citizen.” — Manveen Rana [01:41]
• “If there was a moment when Trump exerted his maximum power... that moment has probably passed.” — George Grylls [21:32]

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Important Timestamps

• 00:59 – Episode introduction; spring term verdicts overview.
• 04:39 – Supreme Court’s composition explained.
• 06:46 – Birthright citizenship case background.
• 09:16 – Landmark ruling against Trump’s executive order.
• 10:51 – Decisions favoring Trump on immigration/campaign finance.
• 12:01 – Supreme Court restrains Trump on emergency tariffs.
• 14:49 – Trans athletes’ participation court case recap.
• 17:52 – Power to fire independent agency heads discussion.
• 19:04 – Fed’s unique protection and economic rationale.
• 21:32 – Broader systemic implications for American checks and balances.

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Summary Table: Key Supreme Court Decisions

| Issue | Supreme Court Ruling | Political Impact | |------------------------------- |--------------------------------------- |-------------------------| | Birthright Citizenship | Trump cannot end by executive order | Constitutional win, checks President | | Transgender Athletes in Sports | States/colleges can bar participation | "Cultural" win for Trump | | Firing Regulators | Trump can (except Fed) | Expands presidential power over agencies | | Campaign Finance | Lifts spending restrictions | GOP advantage | | Emergency Tariffs | Executive overreach blocked | Limits on Trump |

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Conclusion

The episode offers a timely, nuanced examination of the Supreme Court's role as both a check on presidential overreach and a body that, given its conservative tilt, often advances Trump-aligned policies. Birthright citizenship is preserved as a constitutional right, federal agency independence is weakened, and divisive cultural issues shape the political landscape. As George Grylls notes, while Trump has wielded significant power, institutional checks remain, but their future is uncertain as the U.S. approaches the crucial 2026 midterms.

Transcript

[Podcast Narrator]

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[Manveen Rana]

From the Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story. I'm Manveen Rana. The Supreme Court's spring term has just come to an end, leading to a slew of big judgments being announced. But when one of the cases was first being heard back in April, there was an unexpected guest and I'm going.

[George Grylls]

You're going to go to the Supreme Court?

[Guest Commentator]

I think so, I do believe, because I have listened to this argument for so long.

[Manveen Rana]

And go he did.

[George Grylls]

President Trump is heading to the US

[Guest Commentator]

Supreme Court this morning for something we

[Arsh Manning]

have never seen before, a sitting US President attending oral arguments.

[Manveen Rana]

We watched him leave here from the White House just a short time ago and motorcade over to the Supreme Court, which is just a few minutes away. Trump walked into a grand courtroom in Washington, D.C. and took a seat in the first row of the public docs. The case was birthright citizenship, the right of anyone born on US Soil to become a US Citizen. As the plaintiff laid out. Ask an American what our citizenship rule is and they'll tell you everyone born here is a citizen alike. Finally this week, the the verdict returned and it went against him. The U.S. supreme Court has struck down President Trump's executive order ending automatic U.S. citizenship for any baby born in the country. But it hasn't all been bad news for the president by any means. The high court did hand Trump one

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big win, expanding presidential power, allowing him to fire officials from independent, bipartisan regulatory agencies for any reason.

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The Supreme Court has ruled that transgender student athletes can be banned from participating in girls sports.

[Arsh Manning]

The court struck down limits on the amounts of money that political parties can spend. The Trump administration argued in favor of getting rid of the caps on spending.

[Manveen Rana]

Bearing in mind that in his first term, Trump appointed three of the nine judges on the court. Is that hiring round now paying off or does the Supreme Court see still have just enough independence? And what does all of this mean for the balance of power in America? The story today, Trump versus the Supreme Court.

[George Grylls]

So we've been coming to the end of of this term and as a result, there's been this flurry of decisions and they drop at 10am on weekdays. So there's been kind of a lot of anticipation building, particularly towards a few big rulings.

[Manveen Rana]

As Washington correspondent at the Times, George Grylls has been on Supreme Court watch waiting for the latest rulings to drop.

[George Grylls]

To be honest, everyone was waiting for this birthright ruling that was seen as the most consequential and they left the best till last. This was a big case and therefore it was the final decision before they went on their summer break.

[Manveen Rana]

They know how to grab everyone's attention. We'll talk about some of those cases and some of those decisions in depth in a moment. Before we do, just take us right back to the basics. Give us a quick bluffer's guide to the composition of the Supreme Court at the moment. Who are the justices that hold the American system to account?

[George Grylls]

So the Supreme Court is one of three branches of U.S. government. You've got the executive branch, which is the president, and you've got Congress. So that's the two houses on Capitol Hill, that's the House of Representatives and the Senate, and then the third is the Supreme Court. And the American system is designed where you've basically got this kind of triangle of government that is kind of controlling the U.S. historically, it's kind of rare for one party to control all the levers of power at once. But that's the situation we have right now. Now that may the midterms in November. But as of what are we July 2026, we have the president in President Trump on the right, a Republican president. Then we have both houses on Capitol Hill. Both houses of Congress are controlled by the Republicans. And then you have the supreme court, which has a 6, 3 conservative majority. So there are nine justices on the Supreme Court. Six of them were appointed by Republican presidents and three were appointed by Democratic presidents. And that means that one of the most common results judgments that are passed down by The Supreme Court is 6, 3. Basically reflecting that kind of ideological divide.

[Guest Commentator]

Yeah.

[Manveen Rana]

And given that composition, given that it is heavily weighted towards the conservative Republican end of the spectrum, does that mean court judgments always go Trump's way?

[George Grylls]

Well, that's the surprising thing, because you might have, and I think certainly Trump himself expected the court to be much more compliant, but he's struggling to get the justices, including some whom he nominated himself. Three of those six conservative justices were appointed by Trump to be kind of unfailingly loyal, just to follow exactly what he wants them to do. The court doesn't always go Trump's way. So, for example, it struck down his use of emergency powers to pass sweeping tariffs. But on the other hand, quite often, it does support his agenda. So, for example, most famously, perhaps listeners will remember the overturning of Roe vs Wade and therefore ending women's federal right to an abortion.

[Manveen Rana]

You mentioned earlier the birthright decision. That is the biggie. It was the one everyone was waiting for. Just take us back to that case. What exactly is birthright citizenship? What was at stake?

[George Grylls]

So if you are born in the US you are currently an American citizen. This is a quite unique approach to citizenship that America takes, and it's certainly different to that in Western Europe or in Australia, New Zealand, other parts of the Western world. But the US and quite a few other countries in America apply this rule of jus solis, which is the Latin phrase which means get a rights of the soil, as opposed to jus sanguinis, which is rights of the blood. So as long as you were born in the US that means that you are an American citizen. Now, there are currently an estimated 14 million undocumented migrants in the US the highest concentrations are in California and Texas and Florida. For Trump, who campaigned in 2024 very strongly on lowering immigration and imposing a lot of new security measures on the southern border. For him, cracking down on birthright citizenship was extremely important. So within hours of becoming President again in January 2025, he returned to the White House and he signs an executive order, and he says, no, we're getting rid of birthright citizenship. And his argument was that basically this was passed at a time when there wasn't a lot of migration. And nowadays he claimed that the law was being abused. Specifically, he said it was about rich Chinese businessmen who would kind of fly over, you know, when their wives were pregnant, they would fly their wives over and they would have their babies in the US and that was a way of gaining US Citizenship. I think in reality, it was, you know, about these 14 million undocumented migrants, many of whom come from Latin America, and what was the citizenship status of their children? Because also, once their children become citizens, there is an easier path towards a green card and kind of settled status for their parents in due course as well. So that's what I think it was all about.

[Manveen Rana]

And this is clearly an issue that means a lot to Donald Trump. He turned up in court when this was being discussed. He's tweeted about it a lot. He often takes to his phone and social media to express his opinion on this. It was the one everyone was waiting for. Just talk us through the ruling.

[George Grylls]

So the ruling, it depends on how you kind of break it down. But either it was 6, 3 or 5, 4, rejecting the President and saying, you can't do this by executive order. So the reason is, is that the birthright citizenship is enshrined in the Constitution. It's from the 14th amendment to the Constitution. So you're talking about laws that have been in the U.S. constitution for 150 years. The Constitution is not something simply that a president can change by executive order. And this was basically the ruling of the justices. They were saying, you can't just do this as one man elected president and steamroller it through.

[Manveen Rana]

So they've decided to uphold the Constitution. Just talk us through the numbers. You mentioned earlier that it was either 6, 3 or 5, 4. What's the disparity?

[George Grylls]

Certainly in terms of, like, who rejected Trump, you could say it was six, three. But one of the conservative justices, Brett Kavanaugh, basically kind of agreed with the majority of the court in most of its opinion, but dissented on the question of whether or not the Constitution could be amended and how. And he was saying, well, actually, Trump, you can go for it if you just go through Congress. Which to many legal experts was a bit of a bizarre ruling, to be honest, because they think that if it, even if it did go through Congress, it would inevitably end up back at the Supreme Court.

[Manveen Rana]

So that's a legal fail for Donald Trump. But it hasn't all been bad news for him and his agenda on immigration. Talk us through some of the decisions that have gone his way on that subject.

[George Grylls]

No, it's a bit of a mixed bag. So there was another ruling as part of this kind of ended term judgments coming out that was about the status of Haitian and Syrian immigrants and whether they enjoyed protections basically from deportation. And the court sided with Trump and said, no, they didn't. And then there was another case that was important for the Republicans ahead of November's midterms on campaign financing. So the Republicans tend to raise more money than the Democrats. They've already amassed a war chest of almost a billion dollars. To fight the midterms, that there were restrictions on how they could use that money. And the Supreme Court lifted those restrictions and basically said, it's a free for all, go for it. So, yeah, since Trump returned to the White House, the Supreme Court have kind of had a mixed bag. On some occasions it signed it with Trump. But I would say on the really big cases that relate to his agenda overall, one birthright to tariffs and his use of emergency powers to pass sweeping tariffs. You'll remember last year when he got out the kind of board with all the various countries, including a penguin colony in the middle of nowhere with no inhabitants and imposed tariffs on them.

[Manveen Rana]

That was quite the moment.

[George Grylls]

That was quite the moment. The Supreme Court said, no, you can't just randomly use emergency powers to impose these tariffs. So those were two kind of massive parts of Trump's agenda where the Supreme Court said, no, you don't have total authority to kind of do whatever you like.

[Manveen Rana]

So the score at halftime, a win for the Constitution and a few political wins for Donald Trump. But what are the Supreme Court rulings that will fundamentally change how power works in America? That's coming up.

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[George Grylls]

What's going on?

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[Manveen Rana]

George, you've been talking us through some of the recent raft of decisions from the Supreme Court. One that certainly grabbed headlines was the decision on trans athletes. Just remind us of the case that was being discussed. What was the decision they were having to make?

[George Grylls]

So there were two instances, one in Idaho and one in West Virginia, Virginia, where universities and schools had excluded trans athletes from competing in women's sports. And this was challenged by the kind of trans athletes and their families. The case made its way all up to the Supreme Court, and the question was, can schools and universities exclude trans athletes on the basis of their gender identity? And the Supreme Court basically said, yes, they can. What is interesting is that this is a question of can they? It seems likely that as this debate kind of goes on, it will turn into a question of should they?

[Manveen Rana]

So they've ruled that it is possible for universities to do that, but they haven't decided that that's inevitable.

[George Grylls]

That's right.

[Manveen Rana]

So that might be another round of that to come. Why is that decision seen as such a big win for Donald Trump in particular?

[George Grylls]

Well, throughout the 2024 election campaign, he made that, you know, a cornerstone of his campaign. And he, you know, one of the really kind of the campaign slogans that really cut through during the 2024 election was Kamala Harris is for they them, and President Trump is for you. The Republicans were trying to illustrate how the Democrats were kind of more interested in identity questions than, for example, the economy, the consequences of the end of the coronavirus pandemic, and the war in Ukraine led to massive inflation. And yet the Democrats seem to be kind of arguing among themselves about identity. So this. This kind of question of whether trans athletes can play in women's sports, it affects such a tiny number of people. But it took on this kind of outsized importance within American electoral politics. And Trump had kind of really campaigned against trans athletes competing against women, saying it was unfair, and we will, of

[Guest Commentator]

course, keep men out of women's sports. I Prom. Last year, the radical left's gender insanity arrived right here in Salem when a man was allowed to transfer onto the Roanoke College women's swim team. And I just met them backstage. They're great swimmers. I didn't notice a male on that particular team. I didn't notice a male on that team.

[George Grylls]

And so he celebrated this victory at the Supreme Court. And like I said, I think we could see further cases, test this further.

[Manveen Rana]

So, so far, we've got a big win for the American Constitution, a few wins for Donald Trump, which are quite political. Now, let's look at some of the decisions that have come through that could actually change the way power works in America and change presidential powers for a very long time. One of the very big decisions that everybody was waiting for was on the sub of whether the President could fire the head of certain organizations. Tell us about that case.

[George Grylls]

Yes, this was a very important case that was about whether or not the President has the right to fire the heads of independent regulators without much reason. You know, basically on a whim, what

[Manveen Rana]

are the regulatory bodies that will be affected?

[George Grylls]

So the regulatory bodies, there's what we would call quangos, basically. And they basically hold to account, in an independent fashion, parts of government, businesses. They can investigate crimes, crime, but they're an extra kind of check and balance on power. So these are agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the fda, the Food and Drug Administration, the sec, the securities and Exchange Commission, the ftc, the Federal Trade Commission. These are the sorts of agencies we're talking about.

[Manveen Rana]

So these are really important regulatory bodies and agencies that are supposed to operate independently for the system to work. And they now have a direct line to the President because the president can decide to fire the head of the agencies without needing to explain his reasons, without having to go through any kind of process just on a whim.

[George Grylls]

Yeah. And the Supreme Court came to a pretty kind of confusing ruling. So basically they said, yes, he can, he can fire the heads of independent agencies. But they introduced a carve out for the Fed, which is the Federal Reserve. It operates like the bank of England in the uk so it sets interest rates. And they basically said, Trump can't just fire the head of the Fed. This goes back to Trump has basically been putting pressure on the Fed to lower interest rates because that would mean people would have to pay less towards their mortgage. It would bring down the cost of living for a lot of his voters. But the Fed is been reluctant to do so because they see that inflation is still high. And in fact, it's been rising As a result of the war in Iran. This system is specifically designed to kind of resist political interference. For precisely this reason. It's tempting for the President to kind of lean on them to say, please, lower interest rates. We've got an election coming up, and, you know, this will help a lot of my voters. The independence of the Fed is important, therefore, in terms of America's economic credibility, to tell the markets, no, we don't just operate on a whim, you know, by president's kind of demanding stuff for the election. There's something more that's underpinning it. The Supreme Court kind of agreed with that principle. So they offered Trump a partial win where they said, yeah, you could fire everyone else from all these other regulatory bodies, but not when it comes to the Fed.

[Manveen Rana]

And they. They didn't think those other bodies mattered as much.

[George Grylls]

I mean, I can't. I can't explain their thinking, except they presumably thought that, you know, it would impact America's economic credibility if Trump was able to kind of shape the composition of the Fed's board, which sets interest rates.

[Manveen Rana]

What was the explanation of the decision around all of this that came down? Which way did the justices go, and how many of them give us the breakdown?

[George Grylls]

So the Supreme Court ruled 5, 4, that Trump could not immediately fire Lisa Cook, who's the Federal Reserve governor. And then on the separate case, because they split them into two on whether he could fire the heads of all the other kind of federal agencies. It was 6, 3, and divided along past sand lines.

[Manveen Rana]

So when it came to the credibility of the economy, a couple of the conservatives did go over, but otherwise very much down party lines. Does this shift, you know, the checks and balances that keep the American system honest? If suddenly independent agencies are now able to be controlled from the White House, is that a major shift in the way America works?

[George Grylls]

It removes another layer of accountability from the American system. Certainly it's part of this slow politicization of the kind of remaining independent agencies that exist in the US to kind of buttress against autocracy effectively. I mean, you look at the kind of mergers and takeovers, things that could have been investigated and probably would have been under a previous administration that have gone under the radar, and they've basically wiped their hands of it and said, go ahead. You know, you would have to say that it's already changed, that this is Trump in his pomp, that he has total power over D.C. but at the same time, you could argue that if there was a moment when Trump exerted his maximum power, when he had control of all the levers of power and could kind of become some sort of autocrat. That moment has probably passed. It was now, and it's probably passed because if you look at the polling for the midterms, he looks very likely to lose the House of Representatives. On a bad night, he could lose the Senate. And suddenly those three levers of power that I talked about at the beginning, maybe the Republicans only have two rather than all three. And the fact that the Supreme Court has not allowed him just to pass everything through Executive order shows that there are checks and balances still within the US System.

[Manveen Rana]

That was George Grylls, Washington correspondent at the Times. The producers today were Olivia Case and Michaela Arneson. The executive producer was Taryn Siegel. Sound design and theme composition were by Malicetto. If you can do leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow.

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