President Trump’s administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow the implementation of plans to end birthright citizenship. This request comes through a series of emergency appeals filed on Thursday, March 13, 2025.
The administration is challenging nationwide injunctions issued by lower courts that have blocked the controversial policy. These injunctions were put in place by federal judges in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington, following lawsuits from over 20 states, immigrant advocacy groups, and individual litigants.
Trump’s executive order, signed at the beginning of his second term, aims to deny citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally. This policy has been widely criticized, with one federal judge describing it as “blatantly unconstitutional”.
The administration’s legal argument challenges traditional interpretations of the 14th Amendment, suggesting that the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States excludes children of unauthorized immigrants. This interpretation has been largely dismissed by lower courts.
By bringing this case to the Supreme Court, the Trump administration is elevating a fringe legal theory and seeking to restrict the scope of lower court rulings that have prevented the policy’s implementation nationwide.