WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is to meet in private Friday to discuss a significant legal issue: President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship order. This order asserts that children born to parents in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.
The justices may announce as early as Monday whether they will hear Trump’s appeal of lower court rulings that have consistently overturned the citizenship restrictions. These restrictions have not yet been implemented anywhere in the United States.
If the court intervenes, the case could be heard in the spring, with a ruling anticipated by early summer. This birthright citizenship order, enacted at the start of Trump’s second term, is part of a broader initiative by his administration aimed at tightening immigration policies. Additional actions include increased enforcement measures in various cities and invoking the Alien Enemies Act for the first time in peacetime.
Currently, the Trump administration faces multiple court challenges, and the Supreme Court has given mixed signals regarding emergency requests. Recently, the justices halted the use of the Alien Enemies Act for the expedited deportation of individuals, while allowing the resumption of broad immigration stops in certain areas after lower courts had placed restrictions on profiling based solely on race, language, or job status.
Moreover, the justices are reviewing an emergency appeal that would permit the deployment of National Guard troops in Chicago for immigration enforcement, which a lower court has indefinitely blocked.
Trump’s birthright citizenship order is one of the first major immigration-related policies to reach the Supreme Court for a decisive ruling. If enacted, it could overturn over 125 years of precedent established by the 14th Amendment, which guarantees that anyone born on American soil is a citizen, with exceptions only for the children of foreign diplomats and occupying forces.
Lower courts have universally deemed the executive order unconstitutional or likely so, despite a Supreme Court decision last June that limited judges’ use of nationwide injunctions. The justices at that time did not address whether the order itself is constitutional.
Every court that has examined the issue has concluded that Trump’s order infringes upon the 14th Amendment, designed to guarantee citizenship to all individuals born in the United States, including children of former slaves.
The Trump administration is appealing two rulings after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit determined in July that a coalition of states needed a nationwide injunction to prevent the complications that would arise if varying citizenship rules were applied in different states.
Additionally, a federal judge in New Hampshire issued an injunction against the citizenship order, including a group class of affected children.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is leading the New Hampshire case, has urged the court to dismiss the appeal, stating that the administration's arguments lack substance. However, the ACLU is prepared to confront the case if it proceeds to the court.
Long-standing rules affirm that birthright citizenship guarantees American citizenship to anyone born within U.S. territory, including to mothers in the country illegally. The right was established shortly after the Civil War in the initial clause of the 14th Amendment.
The Trump administration contends that children of noncitizens are not considered “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and hence, should not receive citizenship.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer emphasized the policy's importance, arguing that lower court decisions have invalidated a critical measure of the president’s administration without lawful justification, awarding citizenship to potentially hundreds of thousands of individuals unqualified under their understanding of immigration law.
