The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Wednesday about President Donald Trump’s effort to redefine birthright citizenship, in a case experts said could confine Congress’ power to define who is considered part of the nation.
The case turns on the president’s executive order to disallow citizenship for children born in the United States to undocumented immigrant parents or those with temporary legal status, a major change to more than a century of legal precedent.
Much of the administration’s legal argument in the case focuses on the 14th Amendment, which provides that all people born in the U.S. and “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” are eligible to be citizens. Children covered under the executive order don’t meet that latter requirement for citizenship, the administration argues.
