Trump Asks Supreme Court to Decide Whether He Can End Birthright Citizenship

The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship, pushing the issue before the justices for the second time this year, Devan Cole and John Fritze reported for CNN.

The administration argued in its appeal that the understanding was “mistaken” and had become “pervasive, with destructive consequences.”

Despite more than a century of legal interpretation that the 14th Amendment confers citizenship on people born in the U.S., the administration argued in its appeal that the understanding was “mistaken” and had become “pervasive, with destructive consequences.”

Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote: “The lower court’s decisions invalidated a policy of prime importance to the president and his administration in a manner that undermines our border security. Those decisions confer, without lawful justification, the privilege of American citizenship on hundreds of thousands of unqualified people.”

In June, the Court issued a 6-3 ruling in a related case that focused not on the merits of birthright citizenship but on the extent to which lower courts can block a president’s policy.

That ruling limited — but did not eliminate — courts’ ability to impose such blocks.

The decision prompted states and individuals challenging Trump’s order to pursue new cases, including class actions, seeking to shut down the policy through other legal avenues.