The U.S. Supreme Court is stepping into a major legal battle over Donald Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants and foreign visitors. The court announced a special hearing for May 15, signaling how seriously it’s taking the case.
Trump’s executive order, if allowed to go into effect, would block automatic U.S. citizenship for babies unless at least one parent is either a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident. This change could impact more than 150,000 newborns each year, based on existing data.
So far, federal judges have temporarily stopped the order from taking effect nationwide, following lawsuits from 22 states and Washington D.C. These states argue the policy violates both the U.S. Constitution and over a century of legal precedent.
Instead of immediately ruling on those lower-court blocks, the justices agreed to take up the issue directly. But the focus of the May hearing won’t be on whether the order is constitutional. Instead, the court will decide whether states have legal standing to sue, and whether a single judge should have the power to block a federal policy across the entire country.
At the center of the debate is the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the U.S., regardless of their parents’ immigration status. This amendment, ratified in 1868, was originally intended to ensure citizenship for formerly enslaved people. Legal experts say Trump’s proposal would overturn longstanding legal interpretations of this constitutional protection.
The Trump administration argues that undocumented immigrants aren’t fully under U.S. jurisdiction and therefore their children shouldn’t automatically become citizens. However, most legal scholars reject that view, citing Supreme Court decisions and laws that have long protected the citizenship rights of those born on U.S. soil, with very few exceptions, like children of foreign diplomats.
Opponents of Trump’s order warn that allowing it to proceed would create legal chaos, with some states recognizing citizenship at birth and others denying it. That could mean two babies born on the same day in different states could have completely different citizenship statuses.
