For more than 150 years, a single line of the Constitution has settled one of the most fundamental questions in American life: If you’re born here, you’re a citizen. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will take up whether President Donald Trump can end that guarantee.
This case, Trump v. Barbara, centers on the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which has long been understood to confer citizenship to nearly all individuals born on U.S. soil: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”
The justices will also weigh whether the executive order complies with the federal statute that codified that clause.
You can listen to the arguments live on the Supreme Court’s website beginning at 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
What are the key arguments?
The Trump administration’s argument hinges on the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” The president has contended that children born to parents who are in the country illegally or on temporary visas do not meet that standard and are therefore not entitled to citizenship.
The plaintiffs — a nationwide class of children born on U.S. soil whose citizenship would be denied under the order — challenged that notion. They argued the amendment guarantees citizenship to everyone born on U.S. soil except in limited circumstances, like children born to foreign diplomats or members of occupying armies.
“The government is asking for nothing less than a remaking of our nation’s constitutional foundations,” the plaintiffs wrote in a brief to the court. The government’s arguments, they add, “would cast a shadow over the citizenship of millions upon millions of Americans going back decades.”
What’s the precedent?
The court has considered birthright citizenship before. In the 1898 case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the justices affirmed that a child born in the U.S. to Chinese parents was a citizen — a decision that has stood for more than 125 years.
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Trump signed the executive order at the center of this case, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” on his first day back in office in 2025. It directs agencies to deny citizenship for children if neither parent is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. The order is prospective, applying only to babies born 30 days after it becomes effective. It was set to take effect on Feb. 19, 2025, but has been repeatedly blocked by lower courts. No child has yet been subject to it. If justices rule for the administration, the order will become effective 30 days after their decision.
This is the first time the justices have weighed birthright citizenship on the merits. Last term, in CASA v. Trump, the justices took up an earlier version of the dispute but limited their focus to whether lower courts could issue nationwide injunctions blocking the policy. In a 6-3 ruling, they found such injunctions unconstitutional. Immediately after that decision, a nationwide plaintiff class formed and brought the Barbara case.
How will the court rule?
The current iteration of the Supreme Court has often ruled in favor of the president’s policies — though in February, three conservative justices sided with the court’s liberals to strike down the tariffs Trump implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Since that ruling, Trump has been critical of the justices, including his own appointees. In a Truth Social post this week, Trump called the court “stupid.” At a fundraiser last week, he alluded to Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett in saying two of the justices he appointed “sicken me.” Both voted against him in the tariffs case.
Now, they are poised to hear arguments on another signature Trump policy position, and have offered few public signals of where they stand. In a dissent in the CASA case, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that “children born in the United States and subject to its laws are United States citizens.” Barrett, in the majority opinion, declined to weigh in, noting the birthright citizenship question was not yet before the court.
Now it is. A ruling is expected by late June or July.
Fallon Gallagher is a legal affairs reporter for MS NOW.