The issue focused on Trump's legal rights to challenge federal court rulings in civil lawsuits and laws that restrict political speech, said attorney Mike Schlesinger, an ethics lawyer with law firm Law Offices of Justice.

"It is perhaps the most fundamental constitutional right for a president to express his political views," he said. "If you were trying to prohibit those political views from being expressed in public, it would be unconstitutional."

As many as 200 Supreme Court justices have taken judicial oaths this year,