The White House on Friday requested the US Supreme Court to review President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship.
The government urged the court to grant certiorari because it has “a strong and legitimate interest in ensuring that only qualified persons are granted” entry to the US political community and help elect its political leaders. The government also asserted that the executive order “forms an integral part of the Administration’s broader effort to prevent illegal immigration.” The administration further argued that deferring to the lower courts “would have limited utility, given that the cases involve pure questions of law.” The White House also noted that the district courts’ injunctions now in place are nationwide in scope.
The administration argued that the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in the Citizenship Clause does not refer “merely to regulatory jurisdiction but political jurisdiction or allegiance—and the relationship (other than citizenship) that establishes such allegiance is lawful domicile in the United States.” This interpretation excludes “children of illegal aliens, birth tourists, and temporary visitors,” and was adopted by Executive Order (EO) 14160. The administration highlights that the Citizenship Clause was specifically designed to grant citizenship to freed slaves and their children after the Civil War.
The US Constitution’s Citizenship Clause provides that all people born in the US and “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” are US citizens. The Supreme Court, since its Wong Kim Ark decision in 1898, interpreted that phrase as subject to the rule of US law governing the territory of the US. This interpretation has been understood to not exclude children of visitors or undocumented immigrants. Consequently, almost all US-born people are US citizens.
Trump issued EO 14160 on his first day of office. Several rights organizations sued his administration the same day, and 22 states followed suit the next day, asserting the order violates the Citizenship Clause. Federal district courts have issued nationwide preliminary injunctions blocking the enforcement of the order, with federal appeals courts consistently upholding the injunctions.
The US Supreme Court lifted the nationwide injunctions on June 27, 2025. The court held that the separation of powers doctrine and the Judiciary Act of 1789 require that injunctions be plaintiff-specific.
Rights organizations filed a class action lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of New Hampshire immediately following the Supreme Court’s decision. US District Judge Joseph Laplante issued a preliminary injunction on July 10, 2025, blocking the enforcement of EO 14160 against the class or babies born on or after the order’s effective date of February 20, 2025. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the injunction.
The US is one of the few countries with almost unconditional native-born citizenship. The rest of the world commonly practices conditional native-born citizenship or citizenship with a greater ancestry basis. Before the end of the US Civil War, citizenship was denied to descendants of slaves and in the form of racial lineage. Following the end of the Civil War, the US passed the 14th Amendment. Its Citizenship Clause was inspired by British common law, repealing pre-Civil War ancestry-based citizenship law and precedent.
