Trump's Trials - Trump takes birthright citizenship to the Supreme Court

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

The Trump administration is taking its fight to nullify birthright citizenship to the U.S. Supreme Court. To date, every court to have considered Trump's executive order, issued on day one of his administration, has blocked it. But he is persisting. Support NPR and hear every episode sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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Listen to Alternate Realities on the embedded podcast from NPR. All episodes available now. I'm Steve Inskeep. The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to back its bid to nullify birthright citizenship, which is in the Constitution. President Trump issued an executive order on day one of his administration. It reinterprets that provision of the Constitution so that it wouldn't apply to everybody. Every lower court has blocked this. NPR Legal Affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports. Trump's contention that birthright citizenship is unconstitutional is widely considered a fringe point of view because the Supreme Court ruled to the contrary 127 years ago and that

decision has never been disturbed. Indeed, the 14th Amendment says that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States. Trump, however, has long argued that there is no such thing as automatic citizenship for all children born in the U.S. To date, three federal judges in three different states have blocked the Trump executive order voiding birthright citizenship, and three separate appeals courts have refused to unblock those court orders. Judge John Kuginauer, a Reagan appointee, was the first judge to block Trump's executive order,

calling it blatantly unconstitutional. But yesterday, in three separate but nearly identical filings, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to narrow the lower court orders, which apply nationwide so that the administration could begin planning at least to put into effect its new policy against birthright citizenship. Cornell law professor Stephen Yale Lore, author of a widely used treatise on immigration, said the court might well be willing to grant that temporary narrowing request, but he added, I think it would cause chaos and confusion as to who is included in the court rulings and who is potentially subject to the birthright citizenship ban if the case goes in favor of the Trump

administration on the merits. Interestingly, the Trump administration's Supreme Court filing yesterday spends far more time on the power of lower court judges to issue nationwide injunctions, as in this case, than it does on the question of birthright citizenship. That may be because some justices have often complained about such nationwide rulings. And rather than deal with the birthright citizenship question where the administration faces an uphill battle, the administration may think it has a better shot with a frontal attack on nationwide injunctions. That said, red states made wide use of nationwide injunctions when they were attacking Biden and Obama administration

policies and the Supreme Court didn't intervene then. The middle ground, says Professor Yale lore, might be for the Supreme Court to allow the Trump administration to at least begin its plans to obliterate birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court may well limit the injunctions partially, maybe not to the extent that the Trump administration wants, but to the extent that will allow the Trump administration to claim a political victory. Before any ruling, though, the justices will ask for a response from the other side. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

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