The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in May over President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship. Signed on his first day in office, the order seeks to reinterpret the 14th Amendment to deny automatic U.S. citizenship to children born to non-legal residents.
Lower courts blocked the policy, and appeals courts upheld those decisions, leading the Justice Department to file emergency appeals. The Supreme Court’s late-term hearing highlights the case’s unusual and high-profile nature.
The Trump administration argues the 14th Amendment was intended to protect formerly enslaved individuals, not children of undocumented immigrants or tourists, and cites legal scholars supporting this view. Officials contend that people not lawfully in the U.S. remain under their home country’s jurisdiction, meaning their U.S.-born children should not automatically receive citizenship.
Critics warn that restricting birthright citizenship could undermine constitutional guarantees and create legal and social complications for children born in the U.S.
