Trump Administration Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Uphold Birthright Citizenship Restrictions

The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold an executive order limiting birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally or only temporarily.

The Justice Department’s petition—shared with The Associated Press on Saturday—initiates the high court process that could produce a definitive ruling by early summer on the order’s constitutionality. The filing has been provided to lawyers for the parties challenging the policy but has not yet been docketed at the Supreme Court. The administration is not seeking to put the restrictions into effect while the case is pending. A decision on whether the Court will hear the case is likely months away, and arguments would not be expected until late winter or early spring.

Trump signed the executive order on the first day of his second term, seeking to alter more than 125 years of understanding that the 14th Amendment grants citizenship to nearly everyone born on U.S. soil, except for narrow exclusions such as children of foreign diplomats and those born to a foreign occupying force. The administration contends that children of noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore are not entitled to citizenship.

Lower courts have uniformly blocked the order, finding it unconstitutional or likely unconstitutional. These rulings followed a late-June Supreme Court decision that limited the use of nationwide injunctions by lower courts but left room for other orders with nationwide effect—including in class actions and state-brought suits—and did not address the merits of the birthright citizenship order itself.

In July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco concluded that a group of states challenging the policy required a nationwide injunction to avoid the complications of differing rules across states. Also in July, a federal judge in New Hampshire barred enforcement in a class-action case covering all affected children.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer, arguing for the administration, wrote: “The lower court’s decisions invalidated a policy of prime importance to the president and his administration in a manner that undermines our border security. Those decisions confer, without lawful justification, the privilege of American citizenship on hundreds of thousands of unqualified people.”

Cody Wofsy, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing children who would be affected by the restrictions, called the plan unconstitutional, stating: “This executive order is illegal, full stop, and no amount of maneuvering from the administration is going to change that. We will continue to ensure that no baby’s citizenship is ever stripped away by this cruel and senseless order.”

The administration is appealing two cases and asks the Supreme Court to resolve whether the order complies with the 14th Amendment, which was adopted after the Civil War to ensure citizenship for Black people, including formerly enslaved individuals.

Source: AP News