The Supreme Court is heading into its final week with a docket that will test the boundaries of executive authority, test whether presidents can remake federal agencies in their image, and determine citizenship rights for millions of Americans. Three cases waiting for decision will directly shape what Trump and future presidents can actually do once they take office.
Trump has long claimed expansive presidential powers. Last week, he told "The Axios Show" there are "no limits" to his authority in office as commander in chief. Federal courts have repeatedly pushed back on that interpretation, often drawing Trump's criticism in return.
The citizenship battle
The most consequential case involves Trump's attempt to eliminate birthright citizenship. The 14th Amendment and decades of legal precedent have protected the right to citizenship for children born in the United States, according to immigration advocates and constitutional scholars. But the outcome is far from certain.
If the court agrees with Trump, the fallout would be severe. Todd Schulte, president of the advocacy group FWD.us, warned of "mass chaos at every hospital in the United States." The result would leave tens of millions of Americans facing a "patchwork level of citizenship loss and stateless children being born across the United States," he said, fundamentally disrupting daily life for Americans across the country.
During oral arguments, justices signaled skepticism toward the government's position, though predicting the outcome remains impossible.
Federal agencies and the firing power
The court is also examining whether the Federal Reserve and other independent agency commissioners can be protected from presidential dismissal. The case centers on whether Trump can fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Attorneys for Powell argued that siding with Trump would undermine the Fed's independence, and the justices appeared skeptical of that outcome.
The court seemed more receptive, however, to allowing Trump to fire Federal Trade Commission members. That shift would overturn a 90-year-old precedent shielding independent agency commissioners from political termination.
Thomas Wolf, director of democracy initiatives at the Brennan Center, said Trump has pursued "an extremely aggressive and expansive view of presidential authority, under which he can ignore or rewrite laws that Congress has passed and even rewrite the Constitution itself."
Other major decisions pending
Election law cases will test Mississippi's practice of counting mail-in ballots received up to five days after Election Day. A ruling against Mississippi could affect similar grace periods in other states. The court is also weighing a Republican challenge to limits on coordinated spending between political parties and candidates, a precedent set in 2001.
Transgender athlete bans in Idaho and West Virginia are also waiting for decision. Conservative justices appeared inclined to uphold those bans, potentially cementing that Title IX does not protect transgender athletes competing in sports aligned with their gender identity.
The court must also decide whether geofence warrants used in criminal investigations violate Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches. The justices have not signaled whether they will embrace or reject such warrants categorically.
Author James Rodriguez: "Trump's legal strategy hinges on these rulings, but the court's skepticism on the big ones suggests his expansive power grab may hit real limits."
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