The Supreme Court will decide whether Trump's birthright citizenship
order violates the Constitution
[December 06, 2025]
By MARK SHERMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to take up the
constitutionality of President Donald Trump's order on birthright
citizenship declaring that children born to parents who are in the
United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.
The justices will hear Trump's appeal of a lower-court ruling that
struck down the citizenship restrictions. They have not taken effect
anywhere in the country.
The case will be argued in the spring. A definitive ruling is expected
by early summer.
The birthright citizenship order, which Trump signed Jan. 20, the first
day of his second term, is part of his Republican administration’s broad
immigration crackdown. Other actions include immigration enforcement
surges in several cities and the first peacetime invocation of the
18th-century Alien Enemies Act.
The administration is facing multiple court challenges, and the high
court has sent mixed signals in emergency orders it has issued. The
justices effectively stopped the use of the Alien Enemies Act to rapidly
deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without court hearings. But the
Supreme Court allowed the resumption of sweeping immigration stops in
the Los Angeles area after a lower court blocked the practice of
stopping people solely based on their race, language, job or location.
The justices also are weighing the administration’s emergency appeal to
be allowed to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area for
immigration enforcement actions. A lower court has indefinitely
prevented the deployment.
Birthright citizenship is the first Trump immigration-related policy to
reach the court for a final ruling. His order would upend more than 125
years of understanding that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment confers
citizenship on everyone born on American soil, with narrow exceptions
for the children of foreign diplomats and those born to a foreign
occupying force.
In a series of decisions, lower courts have struck down the executive
order as unconstitutional, or likely so, even after a Supreme Court
ruling in late June that limited judges’ use of nationwide injunctions.
The Supreme Court, however, did not rule out other court orders that
could have nationwide effects, including in class action lawsuits and
those brought by states. The justices did not decide at that time
whether the underlying citizenship order was constitutional.
[to top of second column]
|
Every lower court that has looked at the issue has concluded that
Trump’s order violates or likely violates the 14th Amendment, which was
intended to ensure that Black people, including former slaves, had
citizenship. Birthright citizenship automatically makes anyone born in
the United States an American citizen, including children born to
mothers who are in the country illegally, under longstanding rules.
The case under review comes from New Hampshire. A federal judge in July
blocked the citizenship order in a class action lawsuit including all
children who would be affected. The American Civil Liberties Union is
leading the legal team representing the children and their parents who
challenged Trump's order.
“No president can change the 14th Amendment’s fundamental promise of
citizenship,” Cecillia Wang, the ACLU's national legal director, said in
a statement, adding, "We look forward to putting this issue to rest once
and for all in the Supreme Court this term.”
The administration had also asked the justices to review a ruling by the
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. That court, also in
July, ruled that a group of Democratic-led states that sued over Trump's
order needed a nationwide injunction to prevent the problems that would
be caused by birthright citizenship being in effect in some states and
not others. The justices took no action in the 9th Circuit case.
The administration has asserted that children of noncitizens 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,” top
administration top Supreme Court lawyer, D. John Sauer, wrote in urging
the high court’s review.
Twenty-four Republican-led states and 27 Republican lawmakers, including
Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, are
backing the administration.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
