WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� seemed poised Wednesday to reject President Donald Trump鈥檚 restrictions on in a momentous case that was magnified by his unparalleled presence in the courtroom.
Conservative and liberal justices questioned whether Trump’s order declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens comports with either the Constitution or federal law.
Arguments lasted more than two hours in a crowded courtroom that included not only Trump, the first sitting president to attend arguments at the nation鈥檚 highest court, but also Attorney General Pam Bondi and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and in seats reserved for the justices’ guests, actor Robert De Niro.
The case frames another test of Trump鈥檚 assertions of executive power that defy long-standing precedent for a court with a conservative majority and a robust view of presidential power, which has largely ruled in the Republican president鈥檚 favor. In the notable exceptions when the court has not, Trump has responded with starkly personal criticisms of the justices. A definitive ruling is expected by early summer.
Trump, the media-savvy president, spent just over an hour inside that prohibits cameras and all electronic devices for arguments made by the Republican administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, Solicitor General D. John Sauer. The president departed shortly after lawyer Cecillia Wang began her presentation in defense of broad birthright citizenship.
After court adjourned, Trump posted on Truth Social: 鈥淲e are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow 鈥楤irthright鈥� Citizenship!鈥� Actually, about three dozen countries, nearly all of them in the Americas, guarantee citizenship to children born on their territory.
Justices ask about the Trump order’s legal basis
Trump heard Sauer face one skeptical question after another. Justices asked about the legal basis for the order and voiced more practical concerns.
鈥淚s this happening in the delivery room?鈥� Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked, drilling down into the logistics of how the government would actually figure out who is entitled to citizenship and who is not.
Chief Justice John Roberts suggested that Sauer was relying on quirky exceptions to citizenship to make a broad argument about people who are in the country illegally. 鈥淚鈥檓 not quite sure how you can get to that big group from such tiny and sort of idiosyncratic examples,鈥� Roberts said.
Justice Clarence Thomas sounded the most likely among the nine justices to side with Trump.
鈥淗ow much of the debates around the 14th Amendment had anything to do with immigration?鈥� Thomas asked, pointing out that the purpose of the amendment was to grant citizenship to Black people, including freed slaves.
Several courts have blocked the citizenship restrictions
The justices heard Trump鈥檚 appeal of a lower-court ruling from New Hampshire that struck down , one of several courts that have blocked them. The restrictions have not taken effect anywhere in the country.
, which Trump signed on the first day of his second term, is part of his Republican administration鈥檚 broad .
Birthright citizenship is the first Trump immigration-related policy to reach the court for a final ruling. The justices previously Trump had imposed under an emergency powers law that had never been used that way.
Trump reacted furiously to the late February tariffs decision, saying he was ashamed of the justices who ruled against him and calling them unpatriotic.
He issued a preemptive broadside against birthright citizenship and the court on Sunday on his Truth Social platform, referring to 鈥渄umb judges and justices鈥� and saying wealthy pregnant women from China and elsewhere come to the U.S. to give birth so their newborns will have American citizenship.
What would Trump’s order do?
Trump’s order would upend the long-standing view that the Constitution鈥檚 , ratified in 1868, and federal law since 1940 confer citizenship on everyone born on American soil, with narrow exceptions for the children of foreign diplomats and those born to a foreign occupying force.
The 14th Amendment was intended to ensure that Black people, including former slaves, had citizenship, though the Citizenship Clause is written more broadly. 鈥淎ll 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,鈥� it reads.
In a series of decisions, lower courts have struck down the executive order as illegal, or likely so, under the Constitution and federal law. The decisions have invoked the high court’s 1898 ruling in Wong Kim Ark, which held that the U.S.-born child of Chinese nationals was a citizen.
The Trump administration argues that the common view of citizenship is wrong, asserting that children of noncitizens are not 鈥渟ubject to the jurisdiction鈥� of the United States and therefore are not entitled to citizenship.
The court should use the case to set straight 鈥渓ong-enduring misconceptions about the Constitution鈥檚 meaning,鈥� Sauer wrote.
Appearing before the court, Sauer said unrestricted citizenship encourages illegal immigration and also 鈥渂irth tourism.鈥�
Roberts asked Sauer how significant 鈥渂irth tourism鈥� is.
No one knows for sure, he said, adding, 鈥渂ut of course, we鈥檙e in a new world now鈥� where 8 billion people are a plane ride away 鈥渇rom having a child who鈥檚 a U.S. citizen.鈥�
The chief justice replied, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a new world. It鈥檚 the same Constitution.鈥�
Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointee, also revealed his skepticism of Sauer’s position when the solicitor general said the 1898 Supreme Court case should be read to endorse Trump’s view of citizenship. “I鈥檓 not sure how much you want to rely on Wong Kim Ark,鈥� Gorsuch said.
Yet another conservative justice appointed by Trump, Brett Kavanaugh, suggested to Wang that the court could resolve the case in Wang鈥檚 favor either with a 鈥渟hort opinion鈥� saying that the Wong Kim Ark case was correctly decided and it means Trump鈥檚 order is unconstitutional.
Or, he said, the justices could avoid constitutional questions and find that the order is illegal under federal law.
No court has accepted the Trump administration’s argument, and lawyers for pregnant women whose children would be affected by the order said the Supreme Court should not be the first to do so, Wang told the justices.
Questions about the word 鈥榙omicile鈥�
The most difficult questions Wang faced, from several justices, dealt with the repeated use of the word 鈥渄omicile鈥� in Wong Kim Ark, which the administration says indicates that the court’s view of birthright citizenship excluded people in the country temporarily or illegally.
Roberts said the word is used 20 times in the 1898 decision. 鈥淚sn鈥檛 it at least something to be concerned about?鈥� he asked.
Wang says it鈥檚 true that the Chinese parents in that case were domiciled in the U.S., but that the decision did not turn on that fact.
Generally, though, the intensity of the justices’ questions dropped off during her presentation, often a signal of where the court will come out.
More than one-quarter of a million babies born in the U.S. each year would be affected by the executive order, according to research by the Migration Policy Institute and Pennsylvania State University鈥檚 Population Research Institute.
While Trump has largely focused on illegal immigration in his rhetoric and actions, the birthright restrictions also would apply to people who are legally in the United States, including students and applicants for green cards, or permanent resident status.
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Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
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