The Supreme Court has agreed to determine the constitutionality of President Donald Trump‘s executive order attempting to remove citizenship from babies born on American soil if their parents are here illegally or temporarily.
Trump signed this executive order on his first day back in office. This move has upended over a century of how the US has defined citizenship. His plan states that if a person is born in the US but their parents are undocumented or here on temporary visas, it means they are not getting citizenship. Never mind what the 14th Amendment says.
The Constitutional Clash
The 14th Amendment states: ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside’.
Since the 1898 ruling in United States vs Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court has held that if an individual is born on US soil, then they are a citizen. Trump’s executive order is attempting to reverse that.
Judicial Scepticism and Lower Court Rulings
Federal judges have uniformly rejected this executive order. Federal courts across the country have blocked the order from taking effect because it appears to violate the Constitution. However, the Department of Justice (DOJ) keeps pushing back, insisting the Constitution doesn’t automatically give citizenship to kids born to ‘temporary visitors or illegal aliens’. That’s their exact wording.
The case heading to the Supreme Court started in New Hampshire. Two babies who’d be affected by Trump’s order, along with their parents and a pregnant woman, sued on behalf of everyone in the same situation. The federal judge hearing the case agreed to certify it as a class action covering all babies who’d lose citizenship under Trump’s plan. That judge said the order probably breaks the Constitution and told the administration they cannot enforce it against anybody.
The Court Already Got Involved Once
This is not the first time birthright citizenship has landed at the Supreme Court this year. Back in the spring, the justices jumped into three different cases about Trump’s order, but they only dealt with a narrow question—how far can lower court injunctions reach? They did not touch oin whether the policy was legal.
The court ruled 6-3 that district judges couldn’t just issue nationwide blocks on their own, but plaintiffs could still get broad protection through class actions. That’s exactly what happened in New Hampshire.
Separately, the 9th Circuit ruled in July that Trump’s order is bogus because it goes against the 14th Amendment. They kept a nationwide injunction in place that’s been blocking the policy since February. The Supreme Court didn’t touch that one on Friday.
The Arguments From Both Sides
Solicitor General D John Sauer is pushing hard for the Supreme Court to hear this and end what he’s calling a ‘mistaken view’ that being born here makes you a citizen. He claims this interpretation has caused ‘destructive consequences’ by encouraging illegal immigration.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is representing the families in the New Hampshire case, rejects this interpretation. They say Trump is asking the Supreme Court to ‘rewrite’ the Citizenship Clause and discard more than a hundred years of precedent.
This executive order is absolutely central to Trump’s immigration strategy, even though it hasn’t actually kicked in yet because judges keep blocking it. If it did go into effect, it would completely reshape who gets to be American. We’re talking about thousands of babies born every year to parents who don’t have permanent legal status.
Timeline and Stakes
The court will hear arguments sometime next year, probably in the spring. A decision should come down by June or early July 2026, right when campaign season is heating up. That timing’s going to make this a massive political football.
This is the first Trump immigration policy where the Supreme Court will actually decide if it’s legal on the merits, not just whether courts can block it. The fact that they’re taking this up before the appeals court even ruled shows they want to resolve this constitutional question now.
For the moment, Trump’s executive order remains blocked everywhere. Babies born in America keep getting citizenship no matter what their parents’ immigration status is, just like they have since the 1800s. Whether that continues depends on what these nine justices decide in the next several months. The whole world’s watching.
Originally published on IBTimes UK
