Trump’s challenge to long-standing interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment could change the 100-year precedent.
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court appears to have split over whether lower court judges have stepped over their power to block the Trump administration’s attempts to limit birthright citizenship.
Federal judges had placed a national bloc on President Donald Trump’s attempt to remove automatic citizenship status from non-citizens’ children born in the United States.
The question at hand is whether a federal judge has been allowed to do this. The Trump administration has stepped over their jurisdiction over the issue, claiming that they weren’t.
The decision would also determine the limits of the president’s power and whether the president is able to make such a decision, which would determine the judge’s authority in blocking Trump’s agenda at a much broader level in other cases where he faces legal challenges.
The US governance system is based on a series of checks and balances that allow the president to enforce laws that Congress has put into effect, and that the Supreme Court interprets them, and even overturns them if they find the law unconstitutional.
Since his inauguration date, Trump has signed 151 executive orders. This is an order that the President ordered the government to take certain measures. But their limitation is that they cannot override existing federal laws or laws created by Congress.
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President Joe Biden signed 162 executive orders during his term, and President Barack Obama signed 277 executive orders during his eight years in office. Trump signed a total of 220 throughout his first term.
Trump critics argue that he has stepped over his presidency over many decisions.
The president declared a national emergency on January 20th, vowed to resolve the country’s illegal immigration crisis, and promised to meet one of his campaigns to stop “invasions” at the border.
Trump vowed to end “birth tourism.” He says illegal immigrants are giving birth in this country so that their children become American citizens.
According to the Pew Research Center, the illegal immigrant population was 15 years in 2022, and border encounters have skyrocketed in recent years.
U.S. border unrest fell in 2024 after reaching a high of 370,883 in December 2023, according to customs and border security data.
The latest data recorded an 88% decline from the previous year, with 29,238 encounters in April this year down from 247,929 in 2024.
Reinterpretation of the Constitution
The 14th amendment to the US Constitution was ratified in 1868 in the aftermath of the civil war and addressed the citizenship rights of former American-born slaves.
Later in 1898, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Wong Kim Ark, who was born in the United States but was denied re-entry after leaving to visit China. The judge said a child born in the United States became a citizen at birth. This sets a precedent for birthright citizenship.
Trump argues that the amendments are misinterpreted and that the act of birthright citizenship does not necessarily apply to all children born in the United States, particularly to people with illegal immigration and temporary visas.
A statement from the constitution in question states, “Everyone born or naturalized in the United States is subject to that jurisdiction and is a citizen of the United States and the state in which they live.”
The President argued that the phrase “its jurisdiction” means that the person has pledged allegiance to the country and that in order to qualify, one parent should be interpreted as a US citizen or a legal permanent resident.
The United States is one of approximately 30 countries that have been born and offered automated citizenship. Nearby Canada and Mexico do the same.
