AFP, Washington

President Donald Trump on Sunday called on US Supreme Court justices to be “loyal” to his executive order banning birthright citizenship, while bashing the court’s recent ruling against his tariffs.

Trump’s post on Truth Social began by calling out two of the Supreme Court judges he appointed during his first term -- Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett -- for the “devastating move” of siding against his tariff policy, adding that it’s acceptable for them to be “loyal” to him in the future.

“They have to do the right thing, but it’s really OK for them to be loyal to the person that appointed them,” Trump said.

The Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States, is an equal and independent branch of government, intended to check and balance executive and congressional power in American democracy.

It’s exceedingly rare for the White House to exert open pressure on the nine-judge panel, who are appointed to lifetime terms by the president and confirmed by Congress.

On the first day of his second term, Trump signed an executive order decreeing that children born to parents who were in the United States illegally or on temporary visas would not automatically become US citizens.

Lower courts blocked the move, citing the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause.