Trump speech addresses Iran war timeline, what’s next for Strait of Hormuz

The Supreme Court will tackle a question that most people had assumed was settled law: Is a child born in the United States a U.S. citizen, regardless of whether the parents are?

For 158 years, the answer to that question has largely been yes. The Trump administration will argue today that no, U.S. citizenship does not extend to the children of undocumented immigrants or temporary visa holders, and Trump’s January 2025 executive order limiting birthright citizenship should stand.

The Trump administration’s arguments, laid out in a 66-page brief submitted by Solicitor General D. John Sauer, focuses on what may be the five most-focused-on words in the world today: “Subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

The administration is arguing that the children of undocumented immigrants don’t owe allegiance to the United States by virtue of domicile, or permanent residence, because undocumented immigrants lack the legal capacity to establish legal residence here, and therefore are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. 

It also says considering anyone “subject to U.S. law” as a citizen is far too broad, bringing up several exceptions to birthright citizenship in its brief, including the children of Native Americans, who the Supreme Court ruled in 1884 did not have birthright citizenship (which was remedied by President Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s).

The case was brought by a Honduran named Barbara who lives in New Hampshire. The plaintiff represents a class of families who argue that Trump’s order is “squarely contrary to the constitutional text, this Court’s precedents, Congress’s dictates, longstanding Executive Branch practice, scholarly consensus, and well over a century of our nation’s everyday practice.”

“Their view would allow Congress to decide who is entitled to birthright citizenship, by enacting statutes to manipulate domicile rules,” her lawyers wrote in their brief. “That is obviously untenable, as the whole point of the Clause was to prevent the political branches from stripping away birthright citizenship.”