The administration of President Donald Trump is facing a new wave of criticism after legal scholars and advocates accused government lawyers of leaning on arguments rooted in white supremacist and anti-Chinese racism in their bid to narrow birthright citizenship.
At the center of the dispute is the administration's effort to reinterpret the Citizenship Clause, which says that all persons born in the U.S. and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens. In its Supreme Court filings, the administration argues that this protection does not extend to children of people in the country unlawfully or only temporarily, and contends that American authorities have been applying the clause too broadly for generations. The government's March reply brief says children of "temporarily present or illegal aliens" are not guaranteed U.S. citizenship under either the Constitution or federal law.
