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5h ago

Supreme Court Questions Trump's Bid to Curb Birthright Citizenship

Early signals from the bench suggest the policy faces headwinds before a decision expected this summer.

President Donald Trump rides in his motorcade as he arrives at the Supreme Court on April 1, 2026.
People arrive to walk inside the U.S. Supreme Court, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. The Supreme Court justices will hear oral arguments today on whether President Donald Trump can deny citizenship to children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
FILE - The U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington on Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
Demonstrators hold signs outside the U.S. Supreme Court building on the day the court is expected to hear oral arguments on the legality of the Trump administration's effort to limit birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants, in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 1, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

Overview

  • The Supreme Court, which heard arguments Wednesday, weighed President Trump's executive order that would deny automatic citizenship to babies born in the U.S. to undocumented parents or those on temporary visas.
  • Several justices pressed the government's reading of the phrase "subject to the jurisdiction," with Chief Justice John Roberts calling its examples "very quirky" and Justice Elena Kagan saying the text does not support the argument.
  • President Trump attended part of the hearing in a first for a sitting president and later posted that the U.S. is "stupid" to allow birthright citizenship.
  • The order remains blocked by lower-court injunctions that rely on the 14th Amendment and the Supreme Court’s 1898 Wong Kim Ark ruling, and the justices are expected to issue a final decision by late June or early July.
  • A ruling for the government could require checking parents’ immigration status at birth and could touch more than 250,000 U.S. births each year, even as Pew Research counts 32 other countries that also grant birthright citizenship.