Initially wary of Trump, Roberts and Barrett offer the president his biggest win of the Supreme Court term

Chief Justice John Roberts chastised President Donald Trump early on in his second term, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett pointedly questioned whether his administration would adhere to court orders.

Chief Justice John Roberts chastised President Donald Trump early on in his second term, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett pointedly questioned whether his administration would adhere to court orders. But their public wariness of Trump was fleeting. And on Friday, Roberts enlisted Barrett to write the opinion that dissolved one check on the president’s executive power, whether to end birthright citizenship or to enforce policies overhauling the federal government and encroaching on individual rights. The decision, which played out dramatically in the white marble courtroom with dueling statements from Barrett and dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor, buttressed a pattern: The six-justice conservative majority has aligned with Trump’s agenda in his second term. That largely arises from the justices’ own desire for expansive executive authority, be it over migrant deportations or the firing of the heads of independent agencies. Moreover, as the high court took up LGBTQ and other social policy dilemmas in the regular session that ended Friday, the majority adopted Trump administration’s positions.