The Supreme Court of the United States announced that it will analyze President Donald Trump’s plan to restrict automatic citizenship to those born in the country, preparing a high-impact clash over a right that has long been considered constitutional.
The confrontation will test a Trump executive order that has so far been found by lower courts to be contrary to the Constitution, federal immigration law and previous Supreme Court rulings. Ministers will analyze a government appeal in a lawsuit filed by people affected by the measure.
This is the first time that Trump’s plan will be evaluated directly by the Supreme Court. In June, the court, which has a conservative majority, ruled on a legal question related to birthright citizenship cases, making it difficult for federal judges to block controversial government policies across the country, but that ruling did not address the legality of the executive order.
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The decision to accept the case means the court is expected to hear arguments early next year and respond by July.
Trump wants to end the interpretation that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees citizenship to virtually everyone born on American soil. He proposes limiting this right only to babies who have at least one parent as a U.S. citizen or green card holder, meaning that even newborn children of people on temporary visas would not automatically be Americans.
The 14th Amendment, passed in 1868, shortly after the Civil War, guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the United States and “subject to its jurisdiction.”
According to US Attorney General D. John Sauer, the administration’s top lawyer, this clause “was created to grant citizenship to recently freed slaves and their children, and not to the children of foreigners temporarily visiting the United States or of illegal immigrants.”
Critics claim that Trump’s executive order “goes against the text of the Constitution, previous Supreme Court decisions, congressional mandates, historical executive branch practice, academic consensus and more than a century of everyday practice in the country.”
In the case that will be analyzed, a federal judge in New Hampshire has already ruled against Trump. The administration appealed directly to the Supreme Court, skipping the appeals court instance.
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On the other hand, the Supreme Court decided not to analyze another lawsuit filed by four states led by Washington. This case had already been judged by the appeals court, which ruled against the administration.
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