With President Donald Trump present, U.S. Supreme Court justices signaled skepticism on Wednesday toward the legality of his directive to restrict birthright citizenship in the U.S., part of his hardline immigration approach that would upend the long-held understanding of a key constitutional provision.
In his historic visit to the top U.S. judicial body, Trump, wearing a red tie and dark suit, sat in the front row of the public gallery of the ornate courtroom after arriving by motorcade from the White House. The Republican president then left midway through the proceedings not long after the Justice Department lawyer arguing for his administration completed his presentation.
Most of the nine justices, conservatives and liberals alike, grilled the lawyer with questions about the legal validity of Trump’s executive order and its practical implications. The court has a 6-3 conservative majority.
The justices heard more than two hours of arguments in the administration’s appeal of a lower court’s decision that blocked his directive. Trump’s order had instructed U.S. agencies not to recognize the citizenship of children born in the United States if neither parent is an American citizen or legal permanent resident, also called a “green card” holder.
Trump became the first sitting president to attend a Supreme Court oral argument, according to Clare Cushman, the Supreme Court Historical Society’s resident historian. Joined by White House Counsel David Warrington, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Attorney General Pamela Bondi, Trump was at the courthouse for a bit more than an hour and a half.
‘PRICELESS AND PROFOUND GIFT’
U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer, representing the administration, told the justices that most nations do not grant automatic birthright citizenship.
“It demeans the priceless and profound gift of American citizenship,” Sauer said. “It operates as a powerful pull factor for illegal immigration and rewards illegal aliens who not only violate the immigration laws but also jump in front of those who follow the rules.”
The United States is among 33 countries with automatic birthright citizenship policies, according to the Pew Research Center.
Trump wrote on social media shortly after the arguments that the United States is “STUPID” for having birthright citizenship. Trump later said during an event at the White House that the “Supreme Court’s not been acting very well,” and that some justices who he appointed want to show their independence. “Stupid people,” Trump called them.
The lower court found that Trump’s directive violated citizenship language in the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment as well as a federal law codifying birthright citizenship rights, acting in a class-action lawsuit by parents and children whose citizenship is threatened by the directive.
The 14th Amendment has long been interpreted as guaranteeing citizenship for babies born in the United States, with only narrow exceptions such as the children of foreign diplomats or members of an enemy occupying force.
The provision at issue, known as the Citizenship Clause, states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”
The administration has asserted that the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” means that being born in the United States is not enough for citizenship, and excludes the babies of immigrants who are in the country illegally or whose presence is lawful but temporary, such as university students or those on work visas.
Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts told Sauer that his arguments limiting who qualifies for citizenship at birth seemed “quirky.”
