Overview
- The court granted review of the administration’s appeal from a New Hampshire class action that barred enforcement nationwide and did not take action on a separate 9th Circuit states’ case.
- Lower federal courts have uniformly found the executive order unconstitutional or likely so, and the policy has never taken effect.
- The case centers on the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause and the Supreme Court’s 1898 Wong Kim Ark decision, which has long been read to guarantee citizenship to nearly all born on U.S. soil.
- Solicitor General D. John Sauer argues that children of temporary visitors or people in the country unlawfully are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and thus not citizens at birth.
- Oral arguments are expected in the spring with a ruling likely by early summer 2026, a decision that could alter how citizenship is documented for future newborns as 24 GOP-led states and 27 Republican lawmakers back the administration.