Overview
- - The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on President Trump’s order limiting birthright citizenship, and he attended the session in a first for a sitting president.
- - Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that children of parents who are undocumented or on temporary visas are not “subject to” U.S. jurisdiction, while ACLU lawyer Cecillia Wang pointed to the 1898 Wong Kim Ark ruling that has long protected citizenship by birth.
- - Several justices questioned the government’s theory and logistics, with Chief Justice John Roberts saying “It’s the same Constitution” after Sauer called today’s immigration a “new world,” and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pressing how hospitals and agencies would sort newborns’ status.
- - If the order were upheld, researchers estimate roughly 200,000 to 255,000 births each year could lose automatic citizenship, creating verification hurdles for passports, Social Security numbers, and access to benefits that now rely on a birth certificate.
- - Lower courts have blocked the policy nationwide, the case tests the limits of presidential power over a constitutional right, and the final decision is expected in June–July 2026.