Supreme Court to Decide Constitutionality of Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order in Landmark Case

The Supreme Court has scheduled arguments for spring regarding President Donald Trump's birthright citizenship order.

On Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to review the constitutionality of President Donald Trump's executive order which declares that children born to parents without legal status or on temporary visas in the United States are not American citizens.

The justices will consider Trump's appeal against a lower court ruling that invalidated the citizenship restrictions. Currently, these restrictions remain unenforced nationwide.

The case will proceed to oral arguments in spring, with a final decision expected by early summer.

The birthright citizenship order, signed by Trump on January 20 at the commencement of his second term, represents one component of his Republican administration's comprehensive immigration enforcement strategy. Other measures include targeted immigration enforcement operations in multiple cities and the unprecedented peacetime application of the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act.

The administration faces numerous legal challenges, with the Supreme Court issuing varying preliminary rulings. The justices effectively halted the use of the Alien Enemies Act for expedited deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members without judicial hearings. However, they permitted the resumption of extensive immigration stops around Los Angeles after a lower court had prohibited stops based solely on race, language, occupation or location.

Additionally, the justices are considering the administration's emergency request to deploy National Guard troops for immigration enforcement in the Chicago area, which a lower court has temporarily blocked.

The birthright citizenship case marks the first Trump immigration policy to reach the Supreme Court for a definitive ruling. His executive order would fundamentally alter the 125-year understanding that the Constitution's 14th Amendment grants citizenship to virtually everyone born on American soil, with narrow exceptions for children of foreign diplomats and those born under foreign occupation.

Multiple lower courts have ruled the executive order unconstitutional or likely unconstitutional, even after a Supreme Court decision in late June limiting nationwide injunctions by judges.

However, the Supreme Court did not prohibit other judicial orders with nationwide impact, including those in class action lawsuits or cases brought by states. The Court did not address the constitutional validity of the citizenship order at that time.

Every lower court examining this issue has determined that Trump's order violates or likely violates the 14th Amendment, which was designed to ensure citizenship for Black Americans, including former slaves. Under longstanding interpretation, birthright citizenship automatically confers American citizenship to anyone born in the United States, including children born to mothers without legal immigration status.

The case under review originates from New Hampshire, where a federal judge in July blocked the citizenship order in a class action lawsuit encompassing all potentially affected children.

The administration had also requested the justices review a ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. In July, that court ruled that Democratic-led states challenging Trump's order required a nationwide injunction to prevent complications arising from birthright citizenship being enforced differently across states. The Supreme Court took no action on this 9th Circuit case.

The administration argues that children of non-citizens are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States and therefore not entitled to citizenship.

"The Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause was adopted to grant citizenship to newly freed slaves and their children — not to the children of aliens illegally or temporarily in the United States," wrote D. John Sauer, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, in his petition for Supreme Court review.

The administration's position has received support from twenty-four Republican-led states and 27 Republican lawmakers, including Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.