Photo: Alamy
The Supreme Court will meet on Friday to consider whether to hear President Donald Trump’s appeal involving his birthright citizenship order, a central piece of his administration’s immigration agenda.
The justices could announce as early as Monday whether they will take up the case, which concerns the president’s order declaring that children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily are not U.S. citizens. Lower courts have blocked the policy.
If the court agrees to hear the appeal, arguments would be expected this spring, with a ruling likely by early summer.
President Trump issued the order on the first day of his second term as part of an immigration crackdown that has included enforcement surges in several cities and the use of the Alien Enemies Act.
The court is also considering the administration’s emergency request to deploy National Guard troops for immigration enforcement in the Chicago area. A lower court has barred the deployment indefinitely.
The birthright citizenship case marks the first Trump immigration policy to reach the court for a potential final decision. The order would overturn the current policy, which grants citizenship to nearly all individuals born on U.S. soil except for children of foreign diplomats or an occupying force.
Under current precedent, birthright citizenship applies to anyone born in the United States, including children of mothers who are in the country illegally. The Trump administration has argued that such children are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore do not qualify.
“The lower court’s decisions invalidated a policy of prime importance to the president and his administration in a manner that undermines our border security,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the petition urging Supreme Court review. “Those decisions confer, without lawful justification, the privilege of American citizenship on hundreds of thousands of unqualified people.”
