In an unprecedented move, President Donald Trump has made history by visiting the Supreme Court to oversee proceedings in a pivotal case concerning birthright citizenship. The outcome of this case could significantly reshape U.S. legal standards on who is entitled to stay in the country legally.
The case, known as Trump vs. Barbara, has already drawn skepticism from the Justices, including some appointed by Trump himself. This skepticism centers on the arguments presented by the President’s legal team. Notably, this is the first instance where a sitting President has personally attended Supreme Court arguments, highlighting the gravity of the situation. A decision on the matter is anticipated by June or July.
On Wednesday morning, just before 10:00 a.m. ET, Trump made his way to the Supreme Court. He was accompanied by Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was seen departing from the White House as part of the President’s motorcade.
Representing Trump is U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer, who previously achieved success for the President in the 2024 Supreme Court case, Trump v. United States. On the opposing side, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is making the case that the 14th Amendment’s clear wording guarantees automatic birthright citizenship to individuals born on U.S. soil.
The President is being represented by US Solicitor General John Sauer, who successfully represented Trump before the Supreme Court in 2024 in his case, Trump v. United States.
The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which plans on arguing that the plain language of the 14th Amendment provides those born on US soil automatic birthright citizenship.
Birthright citizenship was enshrined by the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 to guarantee citizenship to freed slaves, but has since applied to every person born on US soil or its territories. Trump moved to end it by executive order on Inauguration Day 2025 – a move subsequently struck down by lower courts as unconstitutional.
Trump, wearing his iconic red tie, is seated in a public area roughly half a dozen rows behind the lectern from which Sauer is arguing on his behalf.
In a blow to the President early on, Chief Justice John Roberts threw cold water on Sauer’s position, calling a key piece of his argument ‘quirky.’
People demonstrate outside the Supreme Court ahead of Trump’s expected arrival on April 01, 2026 in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara to determine if President Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship is constitutional
Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to crack down on birthright citizenship. The order has since been held up in court
The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which plans on arguing that the plain language of the 14th Amendment provides those born on US soil automatic birthright citizenship
Shortly after, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump-appointee, said the administration’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment introduces ‘a new kind of citizenship,’ signaling her skepticism of the President’s team’s argument.
‘Are we bringing pregnant women in for depositions?’ Justice Kentaji Brown Jackson asked Sauer how the administration would determine the citizenship of newborn children.
Sauer suggested that social security numbers could be used to check.
Trump has long fixated on birth tourism – the practice of foreigners traveling to the US to give birth and secure citizenship for their children – arguing it is being unfairly exploited by wealthy foreign nationals.
‘Birthright Citizenship is not about rich people from China, and the rest of the World, who want their children, and hundreds of thousands more, FOR PAY, to ridiculously become citizens of the United States of America,’ Trump wrote in a separate post on Monday.
‘It is about the babies of slaves! We are the only Country in the World that dignifies this subject with even discussion. Look at the dates of this long ago legislation – The exact end of the Civil War!’
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Congressman Jamie Raskin have filed an amicus brief against the Trump case, arguing the administration’s position violates ‘the Constitution and over a century of Supreme Court rulings, as well as laws enacted by Congress.’
A majority of Americans oppose ending birthright citizenship, according to a December poll from Quinnipiac.
Trump rides in the Beast to the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning
Another survey from Washington Post-ABC News Ipsos from April 2025 found that 67 percent of US adults oppose ending it.
Trump’s executive order reinterprets the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause to exclude children born after February 19, 2025, to parents who are in the US illegally or on a temporary basis.
The case turns on a fundamental constitutional question: does the 14th Amendment guarantee citizenship to virtually everyone born on US soil, or can the President narrow the scope of its ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ clause?
Trump’s presence in the courtroom is certain to intensify the atmosphere, coming as it does after he has openly ridiculed the Justices for blocking his sweeping tariff agenda.
