Donal Trump made history on Wednesday as the first sitting US President to attend proceedings of the Supreme Court as the Justices heard oral arguments on his birthright citizenship Executive Order.
Trump sat through the entire time Solicitor General D. John Sauer made his arguments in defense of the Executive Order in the suit known as Trump v. Barbara, but he left shortly after Cecilla Wang, appearing for the American Civil Liberties Union, started addressing the court.
The order signed on 20 January 20, 2025, the first day of his second term, sought to reinterpret the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause in a bid to end birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to parents who are undocumented, in the country illegally or on temporary status.
According to the order, there would be no automatic citizenship for babies born to the listed category of individuals, but it has never taken effect as it was blocked by several federal courts before reaching the Supreme Court.
District court judges issued injunctions stopping implementation, ruling that Trump’s order violated the Constitution, decisions which were upheld by two federal circuit courts of appeal.
Priceless, profound gift
The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution grants automatic citizenship to babies born in the country, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States,” states the Amendment.
During Wednesday’s arguments, the Justices questioned counsel for both parties but seemed skeptical about the Sauer’s positing that children of illegal immigrants did not deserve citizenship under the Constitution.
Sauer claims that automatically granting citizenship to anyone born in the US “demeans the priceless and profound gift of American citizenship.”
Observers and analysts have suggested that Wednesday’s arguments gave strong hints that the SCOTUS will most likely determine against Trump’s order, with the President seemingly upset by what he may have witnessed when attending the hearing.
“We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow ‘Birthright’ Citizenship!” Trump wrote on Truth Social after leaving the Supreme Court.
Earlier, there were demonstrations outside the courthouse ahead of Trump’s arrival for the hearing.
