DUKE: Trump Gambles At SCOTUS And Speaker Johnson Caves On Shutdown

Hey y’all, welcome back to Unfit to Print. 

Trump had a busy day yesterday from sitting at the Supreme Court to delivering an update on the war with Iran. 

Let’s get into it. 

TRUMP’S BIRTHRIGHT TRIP 

President Donald Trump made history Wednesday by being the first sitting president to attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court. 

The case in question centered on Trump’s executive order effectively banning birthright citizenship, which automatically grants the children of temporary visitors and illegal aliens U.S. citizenship. 

The policy has gained renewed scrutiny in recent years amid the open border policies of the Biden administration and the rising birth tourism industry. The Trump administration argues that the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause — which states, “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside” — was meant to more narrowly apply to the children of slaves. 

The justices, however, seemed skeptical of the government’s arguments. Chief Justice John Roberts appeared unmoved by recent threats to the nation through illegal immigration, saying flatly, “It’s a new world, it’s the same Constitution.” 

Ironically, perhaps the strongest argument for the Trump administration’s interpretation of the clause came from liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who seemed confused about what it meant to owe “allegiance” to a country. 

“I was thinking, you know … I, a U.S. citizen, am visiting Japan. And what it means is that, you know, if I steal someone’s wallet in Japan, the Japanese authorities can arrest me and prosecute me. It’s allegiance, meaning, can they control you as a matter of law?” KBJ said to the ACLU attorney arguing against the government. “So there’s this relationship based on — even though I’m a temporary traveler, I’m just on vacation in Japan, I’m still locally owing allegiance in that sense. Is that the right way to think about it?”

As arguments continued, the Department of Justice (DOJ) shared a somewhat timely press release regarding the denaturalization of a married couple who conspired to steal medical trade secrets and share them with China. 

Li Chen and Yu Zhou were Chinese nationals who entered the U.S. to work for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH). They became naturalized citizens roughly a decade ago but were found via an investigation to have stolen and sold medical secrets to the CCP before applying for citizenship. 

“The court held that the couple’s wire fraud — and thus their conspiracy to commit wire fraud — constituted a crime involving moral turpitude that warranted the revocation of Defendants’ naturalization,” the DOJ said.  

Here’s a full readout from the Daily Caller News Foundation’s Katelynn Richardson, who attended the arguments.

SHUTDOWN SHAKEDOWN

Speaker Mike Johnson released a joint statement with Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Wednesday afternoon indicating that he would accept the Senate’s plan to end the partial government shutdown. 

While the House previously preferred a 60-day continuing resolution to fund all of the Department of Homeland Security, the Senate passed a bill via unanimous consent Friday to fund DHS minus immigration enforcement through September. (Covered in Tuesday’s newsletter). 

In the Senate’s plan, funding for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection would be dealt with through a separate reconciliation process. 

Johnson said in the joint statement that he now supports the “two-track approach,” writing, “the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited.”

TRUMP’S IRAN PLEA 

President Donald Trump gave an update on the war with Iran during an address to the nation Wednesday night.

“Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is ruined, their leaders … are dead,” the president said, before seemingly addressing concerns about gas prices and Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz by adding that America is not dependent on their oil. 

As to his justification for the war, Trump said he has always vowed that he would never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and said that they have chanted “death to America, death to Israel” for 47 years and have killed American service members.

“[It] should have been handled long before I arrived in office,” the president said.

SCOOP: HUSTED BOOSTED FOR WORK ON ENERGY INDEPENDENCE 

The Restoring Energy Dominance Coalition (RED Coalition), a conservative nonprofit that supports an “America First” energy agenda, is launching a new digital and television ad campaign praising Republican Ohio Sen. Jon Husted for his work on securing critical minerals. 

The 30-second ad spot will air across Ohio starting today, the Daily Caller has exclusively learned. 

“[Senator Jon Husted] is bringing critical mineral production back to American soil, creating good-paying jobs, and cutting off China’s control over our future,” the ad says. 

Husted is currently running in a special election to keep the Ohio Senate seat Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him to in January 2025 to replace Vice President J.D. Vance. His likely opponent will be former Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown. Polls have the likely matchup in a near dead heat. 

TMZ ON THE SCENE

TMZ is expanding its focus beyond Hollywood to Washington’s power players amid the partial government shutdown. The celebrity news website has been actively soliciting photos of politicians on vacation as federal workers went without pay and Americans waited in long security lines at airports, including a particularly embarrassing snap of Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham at Disney World. 

Founder Harvey Levin said the outlet is planning to double down on its D.C.-based coverage. 

Hill staffers provided mixed reactions to TMZ’s newfound presence in the political space to Politico: 

“My attitude is any new press that forces members to be sharper and for comms staffers to be more nimble is a good thing,” one staffer said. 

Another added, “there are definitely conversations on how to engage and prepare for your boss’s TMZ moment.”

Please subscribe here to receive Unfit to Print in your inbox daily.