Few presidential powers are as consequential and enduring as the appointment of a judge to the Supreme Court of the United States. While the writers of the Constitution believed merit should be the sole determinant in nominations to the highest court,

Trump’s executive order, signed in January, seeks to deny citizenship to children who are born to people who are living in the U.S. illegally or temporarily. It is part of the hard-line immigration agenda of the president, who has called birthright citizenship a “magnet for illegal immigration.”