Former President Donald Trump escalated his legal fight to end birthright citizenship in the United States, bringing the issue before the Supreme Court on Thursday.
Trump’s executive order, signed on his first day in office, sought to deny automatic U.S. citizenship to children born in the country to undocumented parents. However, federal district courts in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington state blocked its enforcement, citing its direct conflict with the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In an emergency filing, the Justice Department urged the Supreme Court to limit the scope of these nationwide injunctions, restricting their application only to the plaintiffs in the three lawsuits. Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris called the request “modest” and notably refrained from asking the court to rule on the constitutionality of Trump’s order at this stage.
“These universal injunctions prohibit a Day 1 Executive Order from being enforced anywhere in the country,” Harris argued, contending that such broad rulings interfere with the executive branch’s ability to govern.
The 14th Amendment explicitly states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.” Trump’s order hinged on a reinterpretation of the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction,” asserting that undocumented immigrants and visa holders did not qualify, and therefore, their children should not receive automatic citizenship.
Legal challenges to Trump’s immigration policies have mounted in courts nationwide. In a separate blow to his administration, a federal judge in California ordered six government agencies on Thursday to reinstate thousands of probationary employees who had been dismissed.
Judge John Coughenour of Washington state, a Reagan appointee, dismissed Trump’s birthright citizenship order as “blatantly unconstitutional.” “In over four decades on the bench, I can’t recall another case where the legal question is as clear as this one,” he said.
With the Supreme Court’s conservative majority—including three justices nominated by Trump—expected to weigh in on executive power, the case could mark a significant test of presidential authority and the constitutional protections surrounding birthright citizenship.