Trump's new failure will leave a 'black mark' on America for years to come: analysis

President Donald Trump's latest failure is guaranteed to leave a "black mark" on America for years to come, according to a new analysis.

Trump attended oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, a case that could determine whether birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment is constitutional. The case arose from an executive order Trump signed in January 2025 that declared birthright citizenship does not apply to children born to illegal immigrants.

During the hearing, several justices threw cold water on Solicitor General John Sauer's arguments. Trump got up and left shortly after the ACLU lawyer, Cecelia Wang, began her rebuttal.

While that outcome is a good thing overall, Quinta Jurecic argued in a new essay for The Atlantic that Trump's appearance will leave a "black mark" on America.

"The Court’s apparent lack of interest in rolling back the Fourteenth Amendment bodes well for the durability of the Constitution, the integrity of the judiciary, and, not least of all, the lives of the many people who have depended and will depend on its offer of citizenship," she wrote.

"Whatever the Court rules, though, Trump v. Barbara will be a black mark on administration lawyers and legal scholars who proved eager to reverse engineer flimsy arguments in support of an anti-constitutional aim, and on a political system that nearly enabled the gutting of one of America’s most foundational promises," she added.