The Supreme Court's decision to take up the birthright citizenship case means it is also examining a cornerstone of Trump’s tough stance on undocumented migrants.
The president chose a tactic that is very unusual in the United States to try to influence the nine justices. He personally appeared in the courtroom to signal his interest in getting the order upheld.
Lower courts have blocked the order.
First time
It is the first time that a sitting US president has been present in the courtroom when arguments for and against are presented, the AP wrote. The Trump administration's case was led by Representative John Sauer.
Once Sauer had outlined the Trump administration's arguments and it was time for the opposing side to speak, the president chose to leave the Supreme Court building in downtown Washington, DC.
By then, the hearing had been underway for a little more than an hour.
The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Trump administration on several previous occasions, but has also ruled against President Trump in a couple of crucial cases. Trump has responded with personal attacks and comments that he was “ashamed” and considered judges to be “unpatriotic.”
A ruling from the Supreme Court is not expected until the end of June.
Quick decree
But the issue is of principle and personal importance to the president. One of the first actions Trump took when he returned to the White House in January 2025 was to sign an executive order revoking the right of children born in the United States to obtain American citizenship, even if their parents are in the country illegally.
The issue has been discussed in several lower courts, and the current case concerns a ruling in the state of New Hampshire that blocked the order.
According to analysts who listened to the arguments in court, several judges' questions and reactions suggested that the Supreme Court might block Trump's order. Both liberal and conservative judges questioned whether the president's action is consistent with the US Constitution and federal law.
The United States is one of 37 countries in the world that guarantees citizenship to individuals born within its borders.
The right is enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, Section 1, which was ratified in 1868 - three years after the American Civil War had ended and slavery was outlawed. Historically, the text of the law was intended, among other things, to overturn an earlier Supreme Court decision from 1857, which stated that blacks, free or enslaved, were not citizens but “in a different class.”
In recent years, the provision has been criticized for encouraging so-called “birth tourism,” where pregnant women travel to the United States to give birth there and grant their children citizenship. The Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank, estimates that women in the United States on tourist visas gave birth to about 33,000 children in 2020.
President Donald Trump believes the law is being abused by undocumented immigrants. The executive order he signed in January 2025 states that citizenship will not be granted to children whose father is not a citizen or otherwise legally present in the country and/or whose mother is illegally present in the country or is in the United States on temporary work, student, or tourist visas.
Sources: Council on Foreign Relations, CNN and others
