DAY AHEAD -My Daily Editorial Note

April 1, 2026

Trump is facing an “Ebeneezer Scrooge” type of day today. He’s facing big court defeats PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE.

1) Let me go out of order … and begin with the PRESENT uphill court battle. Trump will shatter norms today by attending the Supreme Court’s landmark arguments on his executive order that seeks to end birthright citizenship in the United States. It begins at 10am eastern.

No one can guarantee what the Supreme Court of the United States will do. Or how it will rule.

But the reporting this morning makes it apparent that Trump’s proposal is an underdog in this fight today.

Mother Jones’s headline call the Administration’s legal effort a “nonsense case against birthright citizenship” and adds “If Trump prevails, the United States will revert back to a tiered society where some newborns enjoy the full benefits and protections of citizenship, while others, lacking them, are denied necessities like food assistance, health care, security from detention and deportation, or even education. As the civil rights groups challenging the executive order charged in a brief in the case, Trump’s policy would plunge the country into an ‘unclear, contingent, and chaotic experiment in exclusion from our national community.”

MORE: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/birthright-citizenship-ilan-wurman-history-amicus-brief/

Critics argue Trump’s decision to attend today’s arguments endangers the storied (and protected) image of an independent judiciary. Concern for the fragility of the separation of powers has been a defining theme in the first 14 months of Trump’s second term. Today won’t help ease those concerns.

Reminder – no cameras in the courtroom. But there will be an audio feed. Unless Trump heckles from the gallery, we won’t hear him.

Technically, the case is listed as Case 25-00365. People began lining up this past weekend for a seat in the courtroom. So, yeah, there’s intense interest.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/qp/25-00365qp.pdf

2) Trump’s legal defeats PAST. A judge has ordered the White House ballroom project halted. And the judge did so emphatically! I’m going to use a lot of exclamation points here! Because DC federal judge Richard Leon used a bunch too! (Not an insignificant thing for a judge to do)

Among the most telling excerpts of Judge Leon’s ruling: “The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!”

Leon also wrote about the plaintiff who challenged Trump’s project, “National Trust has demonstrated that injuries to its ‘aesthetic, cultural, and historical interests” are ‘imminen[t],’ ‘certain,’ and ‘great’ absent a preliminary injunction.”

Oh.. and about the money being spent on the project, Leon’s opinion said, “Trump uses a ‘convoluted funding scheme that they argue permits the President to fund the ballroom using private donations.”

Sure, we can expect appeals. And Trump has already uncorked one of his lengthy social media posts. But this is likely a stinging defeat, given how much profile Trump has given to his ballroom project.

3) Legal defeats FUTURE. I wouldn’t bet the farm on Trump’s new mail-in voting executive order surviving the courts.

Trump’s order would require states to tighten mail-voting rules – and to require the creation of some sort of *LIST* of “eligible U.S. citizens” who are permitted to vote.

I’m no expert on election security or election law. But my longtime source David Becker, a former Justice Department official, sure is an expert.

And here’s David’s take: “It will definitely be blocked in its entirety as soon as the lawyers can get to court. The Framers made sure the President did not have the power to create a national voting list, or dictate to states how they run elections.

Trump defended his executive order Tuesday by saying “It’s about voter integrity, we want to have honest voting in our country because if you don’t have honest voting, you can’t have really a nation.”

But even Trump is predicting a legal challenge.

Becker seems confident the legal challengers will prevail. Becker adds, “Some may freak out about this, but honestly, this is hilarious. It’s clearly unconstitutional, will be blocked immediately, and the only thing it will accomplish is to make liberal lawyers wealthier. He might as well sign an E.O, banning gravity.”

So – prepare for the next Trump social media post in which he expresses his disapproval of federal judges.

A major election security group will brief media today at 11am, to explain the flaws in Trump’s proposal.

Watch my YOUTUBE report this morning, you’ll see why Becker compared Trump’s executive order to some random person sketching in crayons on a cocktail napkin!!! It’ll post here shortly: https://www.youtube.com/@ScottMacFarlaneNews

Some other threads:

Trump is addressing the nation at 9pm about Iran. I’ll have immediate reaction from stakeholders here in DC.

Also today:

1) Speaking of legal defeats. Add this headline to the list.

“Federal judge finds Trump violated free speech by ordering NPR defunded”

National Public Radio explains how it has won a battle over the 1^st Amendment against Trump. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/31/nx-s1-5768399/npr-pbs-trump-federal-funding

Though some local NPR stations would tell you – so much damage has already been done. So many cuts have already been made.

2) House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia is probing into any investments attempted by Pete Hegseth before the Iran strikes. Here: https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/imo/media/doc/2026-03-31garcialettertohegsethdodrehegsethwarprofiteering.pdf

3) Congress still hasn’t returned to town, nor have GOP leaders flirted with the idea publicly. Yet DHS workers far and wide remain idled, while the US is at war.