And according to Slate's Alex Romero, Justice Brett Kavanaugh — the second of three conservative justices Trump appointed during his first term — helped pave the way for the president's defiance of SCOTUS. The conservative legal movement, at first skeptical of Trump's original executive order attacking birthright citizenship, has now fully embraced the cause. In Trump v. Barbara, the High Court struck down the president's executive order on birthright citizenship, which most of the justices said was protected by the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment. "It's not unusual for President Trump to try to ignore or twist a legal ruling on an issue he lost on," Romero observes. After all, there are other areas where Trump has quietly retreated after a court loss or public outcry.