WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to let his administration go ahead with a proposal to abolish automatic birthright citizenship for children born in the US to parents who are not US citizens. This is a big move in both the legal and political arenas. This appeal sets up a high-stakes constitutional battle over a principle that has been well-known for more than a hundred years.
After the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled down the Trump administration’s executive order, the appeal was filed. The court said that the administration’s policy was based on a “strained and novel interpretation of the Constitution” and went against what had already been decided in court.
The Heart of the Dispute
Trump’s executive order wants to modify what people have always thought about the Citizenship Clause in the 14th Amendment. This article, which was approved after the Civil War in 1868, says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”
Trump’s Interpretation: The Trump administration says that the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” does not apply to the kids of parents who are in the country illegally or on temporary visas. His plan would not immediately make these kids US citizens.
Long-Standing Legal Precedent: The Supreme Court has already ruled on this topic. In the famous 1898 case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the court declared that the 14th Amendment made a man born in California to Chinese parents who were not US citizens a citizen. Later court decisions, such one in 1982 that upheld the freedom of unauthorized immigrants to go to public schools, have strengthened this precedent.
A Move to the Supreme Court
This is the first time the Supreme Court will directly look at whether Trump’s executive order is constitutional. In June, the court made a decision about a procedural issue in the case that limited federal judges’ capacity to issue nationwide injunctions against government programs. However, that decision did not challenge the legality of the birthright citizenship policy itself.
The appeal now makes the conservative-controlled court deal with a basic issue of American law. The administration has also asked the court to hear a second, related litigation that an appeals court has not yet decided. This shows that the administration is determined to achieve a final decision on the topic.
The Supreme Court’s final judgment will have a big impact on millions of individuals and will either sustain or overturn a long-held idea about what it means to be an American citizen.