Today the Supreme Court granted certiorari in four additional cases. Most notably, the justices granted the Trump Administration's petition for certiorari before judgment in Trump v. Barbara, one of the two petitions submitted by the Trump Administration asking the Court to weigh in on birthright citizenship. (The Court took no action on the other petition in Trump v. Washington perhaps because that case also involves standing issues the Court would prefer to address separately.)
The question presented, as set forth in the Solicitor General's brief provides as follows:
The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment provides that those "born * * * in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof," are U.S. citizens. U.S. Const. Amend. XIV, § 1. The Clause was adopted to confer citizenship on the newly freed slaves and their children, not on the children of aliens temporarily visiting the United States or of illegal aliens. On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order No. 14,160, Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship, which restores the original meaning of the Citizenship Clause and provides, on a prospective basis only, that children of temporary visitors and illegal aliens are not U.S. citizens by birth. The Citizenship Order directs federal agencies not to issue or accept citizenship documents for such children born more than 30 days after the Order's effective date.
The question presented is whether the Executive Order complies on its face with the Citizenship Clause and with 8 U.S.C. 1401(a), which codifies that Clause.
