The Supreme Court will hear arguments next month on a Trump administration plan to limit birthright citizenship, a major test of the 14th Amendment’s reach.
Justices on Thursday agreed to review lower court rulings that issued nationwide injunctions against President Donald Trump‘s executive order denying automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to illegal immigrants. The court will consider whether judges exceeded their authority in issuing nationwide injunctions when it hears arguments on May 15.
The Trump administration’s emergency application does not address the legal merits of its reinterpretation of birthright citizenship, which under his order would require at least one parent to be a U.S. citizen. It has long been accepted that the Constitution confers a right to citizenship for anyone born in the country.
At least four orders from federal courts across the country have indicated Trump’s plans would violate the Constitution’s citizenship clause, which guarantees birthright citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.”
Appeals courts in San Francisco and Richmond refused to narrow or pause rulings blocking the policy, while judges in Maryland and Massachusetts issued broader injunctions. One judge noted no court had ever endorsed Trump’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment, and another warned that allowing the policy in some states but not others would be “inadequate.”
The administration argued that the clause was never intended to apply to children of parents who are both unlawfully present in the country. If upheld, the policy would reverse decades of immigration precedent.
While the Supreme Court’s order was brief, the Justice Department has argued in court filings that judges do not have the authority to issue nationwide injunctions and that states that sued against the plan lack legal standing.
Trump and his allies have railed against an extensive number of nationwide injunctions placed on his executive actions since taking office in January. So far, more than 17 have been imposed against Trump’s various executive orders in court, whereas former President Barack Obama faced 19 during his entire eight-year presidency.
Challengers to the plan, including civil rights groups such as the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project and CASA, have argued the reason Trump is facing so many nationwide injunctions is due to the proportion and number of policies he has enacted compared to past presidents.
Trump “has already issued more than 100 Executive Orders in his second term, far and away the most ever for this point in a presidential term,” CASA told the Supreme Court in a recent filing.
BLUE STATES ASK SUPREME COURT TO REJECT TRUMP’S BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP PLAN
Trump’s changes to birthright citizenship have the support of 21 other states.
For now, the injunctions will stay in place at least until the high court hears arguments at 10 a.m. on May 15. An hour has been allocated for arguments, although the high stakes of the case will likely prolong those discussions.
