Apple News Today
What the Supreme Court's birthright-citizenship case is really about
Thu, 15 May 2025
A case before the Supreme Court about birthright citizenship could have larger ramifications for the limits of judicial power. Maureen Groppe with USA Today has the story.Trump says he’s getting a free luxury aircraft from Qatar’s royal family — but it's actually far from it. And the announcement has prompted political backlash from both sides of the aisle.The Washington Post’s Hannah Knowles unpacks how a Pennsylvania manufacturing hub is responding to Trump’s tariff policy.Plus, highly anticipated Russia-Ukraine talks are happening today but Putin is nowhere to be seen. Healthy and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Congress "I don't think people should be taking medical advice from me." And how alcohol can harm women’s bodies. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Chapter 1: Who is hosting the episode and what are the main topics?
Good morning. It's Thursday, May 15th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, the Republicans raising concerns about Trump's Qatari jet gift. In manufacturing towns, support for tariffs is a mixed bag. And why women feel the effects of alcohol more than men.
Chapter 2: What is the Supreme Court case about birthright citizenship?
But first, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in a case that stems from President Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship, the constitutional right that guarantees automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S., regardless of their parents' citizenship or immigration status. Trump, in his first day in office, signed an executive order seeking to end this right.
Attorneys general from 22 states, advocacy groups, and a number of individual immigrant plaintiffs have since challenged his order. And federal judges in three states have issued injunctions to block it from being enforced nationwide. One judge called it blatantly unconstitutional. But that's not actually what the Supreme Court is looking at.
The Trump administration did not ask the Supreme Court to decide whether Trump's executive order is constitutional.
Maureen Groppi is the Supreme Court correspondent for USA Today.
Chapter 3: What legal questions are at the heart of the Supreme Court case?
It asks the Supreme Court to narrow the holds that judges around the country have put on the policy. These judges have said this policy can't be implemented while the constitutionality of the policy is being litigated. And the Trump administration filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court saying that the judges shouldn't be allowed to do that.
So, in other words, the legal questions in this case are really about the scope of executive power and to what degree lower courts are allowed to restrict a president from pursuing this type of action. The administration is arguing the courts have overreached and that they're illegally limiting the power of the president. Those challenging the order have said their actions are warranted.
Without a nationwide injunction, without a nationwide pause for everybody, that's going to create chaos and confusion across the country about who exactly is entitled to birthright citizenship.
So even if there are some legitimate criticisms that can be made about this process of putting policies on hold everywhere for everybody in the nation, they say this is the kind of case where those holds are completely justified and are in fact necessary.
These kinds of nationwide injunctions are relatively new. Both Presidents Obama and Biden faced them. Trump, however, has faced a higher number in his presidencies.
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Chapter 4: What are nationwide injunctions and why do they matter in this case?
Critics of the administration say, well, that's because the Trump administration has been pushing the boundaries much more than other administrations. The number of executive orders, for example, that the president has issued is much more than any of his predecessors. So then they say that there's no mystery then why he's facing more of these injunctions.
Grappi says the way the Supreme Court decides to handle this case could impact challenges to other Trump orders.
If the Supreme Court says, yeah, we think these national injunctions are a problem and here is when they can or can't be used, that could affect challenges to Trump's policy changes that have already been made and that are likely still to come.
Let's turn now to the growing controversy around President Trump's plan to possibly accept a $400 million gift from Qatar, a luxury jet that he would use as Air Force One. Trump has said he would be, quote, stupid to turn down the plane. But a number of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said the opposite, like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat.
News of the Qatari government gifting Donald Trump a $400 million private jet to use as Air Force One is so corrupt that even Putin would give a double take. This is not just naked corruption. It is also a grave national security threat.
Schumer has put a hold on all of the president's Justice Department nominees as he seeks more information from the administration. He's also called on Attorney General Pam Bondi, who signed off on Trump's plan, to testify before Congress. Republicans have been outspoken, too. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky called the plan a mistake.
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Chapter 5: How could the Supreme Court's decision impact other Trump policies?
Senator Roger Wicker, who leads the Senate's Armed Services Committee, said, quote, "...it would be like the United States moving into the Qatari embassy." And here's Senator Ted Cruz from Texas speaking with CNBC.
Well, listen, I'm not a fan of Qatar. I think they have a really disturbing pattern of funding theocratic lunatics who want to murder us, funding Hamas and Hezbollah. And that's a real problem. I also think the plane poses significant espionage and surveillance problems. So we'll see how this issue plays out. But I certainly have concerns.
A number of far-right activists have criticized Trump, too, like Mark Levin, a MAGA radio host, and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who called the gift a stain on Trump's presidency. Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro has come out against it, too.
Chapter 6: What is the controversy regarding Trump's potential Qatari jet gift?
It just isn't America first in any conceivable ways. If you want President Trump to succeed, this kind of skeezy stuff needs to stop.
There are strict rules under federal law about gifts for the president and federal employees. According to The Washington Post, they must report in annual disclosures any foreign gifts valued at over 480 U.S. dollars.
If a president or member of the first family wants to keep a gift worth more than that, they have to formally declare their intent to keep it, pay fair market value for it, and pay federal taxes on it. Accepting a larger gift is allowed, but those items are almost always turned over to the National Archives or presidential libraries.
During George W. Bush's administration, for example, he was gifted a puppy from Bulgaria, who was sent directly to the National Archives, which found the dog a new home. In this case, Trump has said that he would transfer the plane to his presidential library after he leaves office and continue to use it.
Chapter 7: What are the political reactions to the Qatari jet gift from both parties?
All of this is to say the reason for these rules is to remove any perception of a conflict of interest, ensuring public confidence in the decision-making process. Trump's acceptance of this gift comes just as the administration is making sensitive deals with Qatar and other Gulf partners. Beyond the ethics of accepting this gift, there are questions about security and the cost to taxpayers.
Politico explains, despite Trump's claims that this plane would be free, it's actually far from it. To retrofit a plane to serve as Air Force One, a private contractor would have to rip it apart down to the studs to make sure it meets the military's standards. Here's how Frank Kendall, who served as Air Force Secretary in the Biden administration, put it to CBS.
Air Force One is a flying White House. It is equipped with everything the president needs that you can get into a 747 so he can do his job while he's traveling. This aircraft will not have those things.
And to make it have those things would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. Meanwhile, Boeing is already in the process of upgrading two 747s to serve as Air Force One. This was a multibillion-dollar contract made during Trump's first term. The first of those two jets is expected to be ready in 2027.
It's been just over a month since President Trump announced a set of sweeping tariffs in early April. What followed was a series of walkbacks, pauses and carve outs with businesses, markets and workers all reacting in real time to the economic impacts.
Recent inflation data showed a slight cooling in consumer prices since March, and the stock market has now largely recovered the losses made this year. But the Fed has consistently warned that tariffs could lead to higher inflation. And across the board, a 10 percent tariff on most U.S. trading partners is still in place.
According to The Washington Post, part of what motivated the president to roll back aggressive tariffs was warnings from senior officials that his own voters, or Trump's people as their source describes it, were beginning to suffer.
Recently, The Post's Hannah Knowles traveled to the Lehigh Valley, a manufacturing hub in Pennsylvania, to talk to voters and workers about how the Trump tariffs were impacting their lives. She went before the U.S. and China agreed to lower tariff rates for 90 days.
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Chapter 8: What legal rules govern foreign gifts to the president?
What I found was a lot of skepticism about Trump's tariffs. And even among people who generally like what Trump is doing, you know, when you asked about the tariffs, you would get sort of grimaces or like, oh, I don't know how that's working out. Right. I mean, these are people who want to like a lot of what he's doing.
And they weren't necessarily like outright critical, but they just weren't sure that this was necessarily the way to go.
Last month, the American truck manufacturing company Mack Trucks announced that it was planning to lay off as much as 10 percent of its workforce from a facility in the area in response to tariffs. Some Mack employees Knoll spoke with were unconcerned by stock market movements and thought tariffs could force a necessary change to bring back American manufacturing.
But I did talk to one of the union officials. He's a Republican. He didn't want to talk about how he voted, but he did say that. And he said he knows some people at this factory who regret how they voted and they voted for Trump and they're not sure that that was a good move now.
If there are any political consequences for the president in this closely divided swing state, the district's U.S. House representative up for reelection next year could feel it first.
The Lehigh Valley is home to Congressman Ryan McKenzie, and he's a freshman. He flipped a very hotly contested district this past fall. He unseated Susan Wild, a Democrat. So this is really a top target for Democrats. This is exactly the kind of district where they think they can ride this wave of backlash to Trump and really take back some of those seats that they lost.
McKenzie has defended the tariffs but called the Mac layoffs disappointing. In 2024, McKenzie won by just one percentage point. And Trump narrowly lost Lehigh Valley while winning the state overall. Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following. Highly anticipated peace talks between Ukraine and Russia are happening today, but Russian President Vladimir Putin won't be there.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said he was prepared to meet with Putin in Turkey, potentially setting the stage for their first face-to-face meeting since 2019. But despite Putin calling for direct talks without preconditions last week, the Kremlin revealed last night he will be sending a delegation.
The past few weeks has seen some shift in tone from the Trump administration, especially following the highly publicized minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine. Vice President Vance said recently that Russia was asking for too much, and Trump expressed suspicions that Putin could be stringing him along. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will also be in Turkey.
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