If there’s one line to take away from Wednesday’s Supreme Court hearing in the birthright citizenship case, it might be this: “It’s a new world. It’s the same Constitution.”

Those words were spoken by Chief Justice John Roberts, who I predict will be with — and will possibly lead — the majority of the court in rejecting President Donald Trump’s bid to single-handedly redefine that citizenship......

“Having said all that,” Roberts replied, “you do agree that that has no impact on the legal analysis before us?”

That’s a judicial way of saying it’s irrelevant.

Sauer maintained that “we’re in a new world now, as Justice [Samuel] Alito pointed out to, where 8 billion people are one plane ride away from having a child who’s a U.S. citizen.”

That’s when the chief justice replied, “Well, it’s a new world. It’s the same Constitution.”

If the court holds true to that principle, then Trump will lose this case......

Yet even the possibility that his fringe position will get any votes in this case is remarkable. “Blatantly unconstitutional” is what one federal judge called the executive order that sparked this litigation. Due to the administration’s series of lower court losses, the order hasn’t taken effect. If the high court continues that streak, it never will. If it does take effect, then it will change the country.

As Sauer alluded to in the exchange with Roberts, Alito might be the most likely justice to cast such a vote for the government, though the precise breakdown and rationale of the court’s forthcoming ruling won’t be known until it’s published, which is expected to happen by early July.