On Friday, the Supreme Court granted review of two cases in which lower courts have found President Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship unconstitutional. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), in a brief joined by Landmark Legal Foundation, had urged the Court to grant review, and reverse.
FAIR showed in its brief that the issue of who is entitled to citizenship at birth under the Constitution has already been decided by the Supreme Court, 127 years ago. In United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the Court clearly held that, to be subject to the jurisdiction of the United States at birth, and thus a citizen under the Fourteenth Amendment, one must be born in the United States to parents who have permission to reside here.
“All the Court has to do to uphold at least 95 percent of Trump’s order is read its own prior case not as activist academics want it to be, but as it really is,” said Christopher J. Hajec, Deputy General Counsel of FAIR. “The Court has already excluded children of illegal aliens and tourists from getting citizenship automatically at birth, since neither group has permission to reside in the United States. We look forward to helping the Court realize that the consent of the nation, not merely the will of lawbreakers or visitors, must play a role in who becomes a citizen of this country.”
The cases are Trump v. Washington, No 25-364, and Trump v. Barbara, No. 25-365 (Supreme Court).
