SCOTUSblog By Amy Howe 1/30/2026
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on April 1 in the challenge to President Donald Trump’s efforts to end birthright citizenship – that is, the guarantee of citizenship to virtually everyone born in the United States. That case, Trump v. Barbara, is one of eight cases scheduled during the court’s March argument session, which runs from March 23-25 and again from March 30-April 1. The justices will also hear oral arguments in an important election law case, Watson v. Republican National Committee, on March 23.
Trump issued the executive order at the center of the birthright citizenship case on Jan. 20, 2025. The order, which has never gone into effect, would bar automatic citizenship for babies born in the United States if their parents are in this country either illegally or temporarily.
The challengers in the case contend that the order conflicts with both the Supreme Court’s longstanding case law and the text of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which provides that “[a]ll 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.”
The Trump administration counters that the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, which was added to the Constitution in 1868, was simply intended to ensure that formerly enslaved people and their children were U.S. citizens, rather than to provide the sweeping benefit that it confers today.
The April 1 argument will be the first time that the justices will officially consider the legality of Trump’s order. After several federal courts around the country blocked the government last year from enforcing the order, the Trump administration asked the court to weigh in on the power of federal district courts to issue orders – often known as “universal” or “nationwide” injunctions – that prohibit the government from implementing a law or policy anywhere in the country. The Supreme Court ruled in late June that federal judges generally cannot issue such orders.
More:
https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/01/supreme-court-will-hear-birthright-citizenship-case-on-april-1/
