Overview
- Supreme Court justices heard arguments Wednesday with President Trump in attendance, marking the first time a sitting president joined an oral argument.
- Several conservative and liberal justices questioned the administration’s reading of “subject to the jurisdiction” and pressed how hospitals and agencies would verify citizenship if a birth certificate no longer proved it.
- The executive order, labeled 14-160, targets babies born to undocumented parents or those on temporary visas, but multiple lower courts blocked it so it has never taken effect, and a ruling is expected by early summer.
- Researchers estimate 200,000 to 255,000 newborns a year could lose automatic citizenship, which could force new parent-status checks for passports, Social Security numbers, and public benefits.
- The challengers, represented by the ACLU, rely on the 14th Amendment and the 1898 Wong Kim Ark decision that established broad birthright citizenship, while Solicitor General D. John Sauer defended the order as a response to birth tourism and illegal migration.