Supreme Court Rules on ‘Emergency Request’ from Trump Admin

In an unusual decision, the Supreme Court revealed on Thursday that it will hold oral arguments in May regarding President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship. This follows an emergency petition from his administration.

On his first day back in office this January, Trump issued an executive directive asserting that the 14th Amendment grants citizenship only to children born to parents “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States.

According to a report from the Western Journal, this measure would effectively block automatic U.S. citizenship for children born to individuals residing in the country without legal status.

Originally enacted after the Civil War, the 14th Amendment was intended to ensure that formerly enslaved people were recognized as citizens of both the nation and the states they lived in.

Over time, courts and policymakers have widely interpreted the amendment as providing citizenship to anyone born on American soil. However, the Supreme Court has never issued a conclusive decision on the full extent of this view. Still, in 1895, the Court ruled that children born to lawful permanent residents are U.S. citizens.

Following the executive order, CBS News noted that more than six legal challenges emerged in federal courts, including those in Washington, Maryland, and Massachusetts.

Judges at the lower court level blocked the order’s enforcement, and appellate courts in San Francisco, Boston, and Richmond, Virginia, affirmed those blocks.

As CBS News explained, “The Justice Department filed emergency appeals of the three decisions with the Supreme Court in mid-March and asked it to limit enforcement of the birthright citizenship order to 28 states and individuals who are not involved in the ongoing cases.”

On Thursday, the Supreme Court scheduled a hearing for May 15. As The Hill pointed out, it is rare for the Court to take up a case that late in a term that is slated to end in June.

During his campaign, Trump asserted, “Constitutional scholars have shown for decades that granting automatic citizenship to the children of illegal aliens born in the United States is based on a patently incorrect interpretation of the 14th Amendment.”

He also stated, “The framers of the 14th Amendment made clear that ‘persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens [or] who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers’ are not ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the U.S.”

Reacting to the Supreme Court’s move, Trump said from the White House: “I am so happy. I think the case has been so misunderstood.”

He argued that the 14th Amendment was never meant to apply to individuals who merely arrive in the U.S.—whether as undocumented immigrants or tourists—and then have children who automatically receive citizenship.

“That is all about slavery. And even look at the dates in which [the amendment] was signed. It was right in that era … right after the Civil War,” Trump added. “If you look at it that way, the case is an easy case to win.”

Some conservatives contend that because the 14th Amendment specifies citizenship for those “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States, the longstanding interpretation may be flawed.

The administration is expected to argue that undocumented immigrants fall under the legal authority of their countries of origin rather than the U.S.