The justices are expected to rule this week on whether the chief executive's power to dismiss independent central bankers also extends to terminating foundational constitutional guarantees.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court enters its final week of the term deeply fractured over a pair of cases that will determine whether President Donald Trump possesses the unilateral executive authority to terminate the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the concept of birthright citizenship.
Oral arguments revealed a stark ideological split among the justices regarding the limits of presidential power, with the court's conservative wing actively searching for historical precedent that might allow the executive branch to classify the 14th Amendment as an at-will employee subject to immediate dismissal.
The question before the Court is simply whether the President's mandate supersedes a few sentences written in 1868 that are currently polling very poorly.
Court watchers noted that while the justices seemed slightly more hesitant to allow the administration to unilaterally dissolve the independent central bank, several indicated a willingness to strike down birthright citizenship provided the Justice Department files the proper human resources paperwork before deporting native-born Americans.
In a late brief filed by the White House counsel's office, the administration argued that the Constitution's framers clearly intended for the executive to have broad discretion in managing the nation's monetary policy, as well as the absolute right to retroactively un-birth anyone who did not vote for the president in the primary.