Trump's birthright citizenship case gets Supreme Court date

Washington DC - The Supreme Court will hear arguments over President 's move to end birthright citizenship on May 15, the court announced Thursday.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments over President Donald Trump's move to end birthright citizenship on May 15, the court announced Thursday. © Collage: KAYLA BARTKOWSKI / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP & Brendan Smialowski / AFP

Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office seeking to for children whose parents are in the US illegally or on temporary visas, but it has been blocked in multiple appellate courts. He appealed the case on March 13.

Birthright citizenship is enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which decrees that anyone born on American soil is a citizen. It was one of several amendments enacted in the wake of the Civil War to guarantee rights to formerly enslaved people.

The 14th Amendment says, in part: "All 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."

Trump's order was premised on the idea that anyone in the US illegally, or on a visa, was not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the country, and therefore excluded from this category.

His order was due to come into effect on February 19, but faced multiple lawsuits around the country that resulted in .

District Judge John Coughenour, who heard the case in Washington state, described the president's executive order as "blatantly unconstitutional."

BREAKING: Supreme Court moves cases involving Trump’s challenge to birthright citizenship from the emergency docket to its regular merits docket. Oral argument scheduled for May 15. pic.twitter.com/oJU8ZXdmjx

— Steven Mazie (@stevenmazie) April 17, 2025

Trump's bid to end birthright citizenship deemed "blatantly unconstitutional" by judge

"I've been on the bench for over four decades, I can't remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is," said Coughenour, who was appointed by a Republican president, Ronald Reagan.

The halt on Trump's birthright citizenship order is just one of the many his administration has faced as it rushes through contentious immigration and other reforms.

Trump wants to rob children born in America of their right to citizenship. His executive order cannot erase the clear text of the Constitution, a century of Supreme Court case law, or the guarantee of birthright citizenship Congress codified in 1940.@RepRaskin and Congressional… pic.twitter.com/qvRYEIhrEH

— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) April 12, 2025

Adverse court rulings have prompted the administration to rail against what it calls activist judges, with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voting through a bill last week to to issue nationwide injunctions – although the text has next to no chance of passing the Senate.