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Supreme Court Takes Up Challenge to Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order

The order remains blocked by lower courts, with arguments set for spring, a decision expected by summer 2026.

Overview

  • The Supreme Court granted review on December 5 in Barbara v. Trump to decide the constitutionality of Executive Order 14160 limiting automatic citizenship for some U.S.-born children.
  • Federal judges in Washington, Maryland, and New Hampshire have issued injunctions halting enforcement, and a divided Ninth Circuit panel held the order invalid under the Fourteenth Amendment.
  • The order targets births where the mother is unlawfully present or lawfully present only temporarily and the father is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.
  • USCIS released a July 25 implementation plan defining “unlawfully present” and “lawful but temporary” status, proposing registration pathways to assign a parent’s lawful status to affected newborns and deferring enforcement against them.
  • A PRRI poll finds roughly two-thirds of Americans support preserving birthright citizenship, while legal scholars warn that upholding the order could create stateless or legally precarious populations.