The Trump administration’s contentious order restricting birthright citizenship is under judicial scrutiny, and the matter has now reached the United States Supreme Court. The high court is set to deliberate on Thursday on whether to uphold lower court rulings that have blocked the enforcement of these restrictions on a nationwide scale.
The administration posits that the Fourteenth Amendment’s citizenship clause inherently excludes individuals not subject to U.S. political jurisdiction. Hence, according to this reading, at least one parent of a newborn must be a U.S. citizen or have lawful permanent resident status for the child to be granted birthright citizenship.
Critics argue that the administration depends on “fringe” legal interpretations, which challenge established scholarly consensus on constitutional grounds. This contention underscores what detractors view as a weaker legal foundation for the order, potentially bolstering the case for maintaining the injunctions as they stand.
The impending oral arguments present a significant judicial occasion, as the Supreme Court grapples with a controversial policy at the intersection of immigration law and constitutional interpretation. For further reading, Lydia Wheeler reports on the case’s intricacies here.