Supreme Court Questions Trump Administration's Birthright Citizenship Challenge
It was an extraordinary morning at the Supreme Court.
For over two hours, the highest court in the United States deliberated on whether the president – through an executive order – could dismantle a principle fundamental to the nation’s identity and history: that nearly anyone born on American soil is a US citizen.
President Donald Trump himself was present – marking the first time a sitting president attended oral arguments at the Supreme Court – confronting justices he has frequently criticized and pressured to align with his policies. His presence underscored the immense significance of this case.
The egalitarian and universal rule that anyone born in the US is a citizen was established by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution in 1868 and reaffirmed by the Supreme Court 128 years ago. A ruling favoring the Trump administration would drastically alter the definition of American citizenship.
Practically, this would mean that approximately 250,000 babies born annually in the United States could lose their citizenship. Some might become stateless. Legal experts warn that such a precedent could lead to revoking citizenship from millions who currently hold it.
A final decision is anticipated in June. Following the oral arguments, skepticism was apparent regarding Trump’s efforts to restrict birthright citizenship. Chief Justice John Roberts remarked that the administration’s evidence suggesting the 14th Amendment did not broadly apply was
“very quirky”. Justice Elena Kagan observed that the administration’s solicitor general, John Sauer, was
“looking for some more technical, esoteric meaning”in the citizenship clause.
However, conservative justices also rigorously questioned Cecillia Wang, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the legal challenge against Trump’s order. This indicated that the case’s details could be legally complex and have extensive implications regardless of the verdict.
Implications and Questions Raised
The arguments brought to light troubling questions about who qualifies as American.
It became evident how Trump, who has initiated a large-scale deportation campaign targeting families residing in the US for decades and has tightened legal citizenship pathways, might approach these questions.
Nonetheless, the principle of birthright citizenship enjoys broad support among Americans. Many citizens, including those in the highest offices, owe their family histories to this principle.
Justice Samuel Alito referenced language from the Civil Rights Act of 1866, enacted after slavery’s abolition and preceding the 14th Amendment, stating that a person born in the US who is
“not subject to any foreign power”receives birthright citizenship. He posed a hypothetical: a child born in the US to an undocumented Iranian immigrant would be an Iranian national at birth.
“Is he not subject to any foreign power?”Alito asked.
Wang responded negatively and further noted that
“that means that children of Irish, and Italian immigrants would also not be citizens.”She did not explicitly state that the justices’ perspectives were deeply influenced by the US principle of birthright citizenship. Alito, the only first-generation American on the Supreme Court, was born in Italy, immigrated as a baby, and naturalized at age 10. Chief Justice Roberts’ grandfather was born in the US to Slovakian parents who were not naturalized at the time, according to reports. Justice Clarence Thomas’ great-grandfather became a US citizen after the 14th Amendment granted citizenship to formerly enslaved Black people and their descendants.
Solicitor General Sauer advanced a fringe conservative argument that the 14th Amendment was intended solely to apply to
“newly freed slaves and their children, not on the children of aliens who are temporarily present in the United States or of illegal aliens.”
Wang, born in Oregon to parents who legally emigrated from Taiwan as graduate students, cited extensive evidence supporting the longstanding interpretation that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship broadly to all born in the US.
After the arguments, Wang told reporters:
“I come out of the court today with the thought of my parents and so many of our parents and ancestors.”
