Even If SCOTUS Gives Trump A Win On Birthright Citizenship, It Will Not End Partisan Lawfare
Margot Cleveland
On Thursday, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in three consolidated cases concerning the propriety of the nationwide injunctions entered against the Trump Administration barring implementation of the president’s birthright citizenship executive order. While President Trump seems assured of scoring a victory from the Supreme Court in these cases, a win will do little to stop the lower courts from continuing to flood the country with nationwide injunctions interfering with the Trump Administration’s execution of its American-first agenda.
The reason why is simple: The issue before the Supreme Court is narrow and does not concern the propriety of nationwide injunctions in cases brought under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). And the majority of nationwide injunctions entered against the Trump Administration since the president returned to Washington came in cases challenging decisions under the APA.
Not so, though, for the cases being heard on Thursday. Those three cases all involve nationwide injunctions entered based on the lower courts’ conclusion that the president’s January 20, 2025, Executive Order concerning birthright citizenship violates the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which provides: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Legal scholars vehemently disagree over whether that clause guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the United States, or limits such birthright citizenship to persons born in the United States whose parents are legal permanent residents. That question is not yet before the Supreme Court — although it likely will be next term. Instead, the Trump Administration filed an application before the Supreme Court asking the justices to limit the application of the lower courts’ injunctions to those properly before the courts.
more
https://thefederalist.com/2025/05/13/even-if-scotus-gives-trump-a-win-on-birthright-citizenship-it-will-not-end-partisan-lawfare/
