Trump Administration Argues Citizenship Clause Does Not Apply to Illegal Immigrants or Visitors
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a historic moment, President Donald Trump personally attended oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court this week as justices weighed one of the most consequential immigration cases in decades—his administration’s effort to restrict birthright citizenship.
The case centers on Trump’s 2025 executive order seeking to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to non-citizen parents, challenging interpretations of the 14th Amendment. The Trump Administration argues that the loophole has been exploited and abused by the surge of illegal immigration under the Biden administration and has opened the door to something the founders never intended – a flood of noncitizens and visitors entering the US to have a child and then claiming the rights of legal citizens, while taking advantage of the privileges of citizenship without loyalty or permanent home here in the United States.
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Trump sat silently in the courtroom gallery for more than an hour, marking what observers described as the first time a sitting president has attended Supreme Court oral arguments.
Constitution’s Citizenship Clause
At issue is the Constitution’s Citizenship Clause, which states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States… are citizens.”
The administration has argued that the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” should exclude children of undocumented immigrants or temporary visitors. Opponents, including the ACLU, argue the order contradicts more than a century of legal precedent.
A final decision is expected by early summer.
