The US Supreme Court has announced it will review President Donald Trump’s attempt to ban automatic US citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants and foreign visitors, scheduled for a special court session next month.
A nationwide injunction blocking the citizenship ban has been in place since lower courts ruled against it. The Justice Department had asked the Supreme Court to limit those orders or allow federal agencies to develop plans for banning birthright citizenship. However, the justices decided to take up the administration’s emergency request and add a new case to its calendar.
The argument is expected to focus on the scope of the nationwide orders blocking Trump’s policy and whether individual states have legal grounds to challenge it. The Solicitor General has sharply criticized nationwide injunctions, which have halted many of Trump’s efforts to dismantle federal agencies and curb spending.
Experts say nationwide injunctions are an efficient way to halt potentially illegal government action and prevent unilaterally changing the law. However, critics argue that such orders can create confusion and disparate state-by-state policies.
At issue is the 14th Amendment, which established citizenship for freed Black Americans after the Civil War. The Supreme Court has upheld this amendment in previous cases, including Wong Kim Ark, a child born to Chinese parents who was declared a US citizen in 1898.
The challengers argue that Trump’s argument would require a reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment and conflicts with settled Supreme Court precedent protecting citizenship for most everyone born on US soil. They also claim there is no evidence linking birthright citizenship to illegal immigration at the southern border.
A decision by the Supreme Court could have significant implications for hundreds of thousands of American-born children whose citizenship would be affected by Trump’s policy.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/17/supreme-court-trump-birthright-citizenship-ban