WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is asking the Supreme Court to uphold his birthright citizenship order proclaiming that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or on temporary visits are not American citizens.
The appeal, which was shared with The Associated Press on Saturday, initiates a process that could culminate in a definitive Supreme Court ruling by early summer regarding the constitutionality of the citizenship restrictions.
So far, lower court judges have prevented these restrictions from being enacted anywhere. The Republican administration is not requesting that the Supreme Court allow the restrictions to occur while it deliberates.
The Department of Justice’s petition has been shared with lawyers opposing the order but is not yet officially on the Supreme Court’s docket.
Any decision on whether the court will take on the case is still several months away, with oral arguments likely to be scheduled for late winter or early spring.
“The lower court’s decisions invalidated a policy of prime importance to the president and his administration in a manner that undermines our border security,” said Solicitor General D. John Sauer. “Those decisions confer, without lawful justification, the privilege of American citizenship on hundreds of thousands of unqualified people.”
Cody Wofsy, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who represents children potentially affected by Trump’s restrictions, declared the administration’s plan as clearly unconstitutional.
“This executive order is illegal, full stop, and no amount of maneuvering from the administration is going to change that. We will continue to ensure that no baby’s citizenship is ever stripped away by this cruel and senseless order,” Wofsy stated.
Trump signed the controversial executive order during his second term that would alter over 125 years of interpretation that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to anyone born on American soil, with minimal exceptions.
Multiple lower court decisions have declared the executive order unconstitutional, even post a Supreme Court ruling that limited judges' ability to issue nationwide injunctions.
The administration is currently appealing two separate cases. In one, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled a nationwide injunction was necessary to manage the implications of varying interpretations of birthright citizenship across different states.
Additionally, in another ruling from July, a federal judge in New Hampshire blocked the citizenship order in a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all affected children.
Birthright citizenship automatically grants American citizenship to anyone born on U.S. territory, including children of undocumented immigrants, as established post-Civil War in the 14th Amendment.
The administration maintains that children of noncitizens are not 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States and therefore do not qualify for citizenship.
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