TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Apr 2, 2026

U.S. Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments in a challenge to President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship. According to SCOTUSblog, the justices appeared skeptical of the government’s argument that the 14th Amendment was adopted to give newly freed enslaved people and their children citizenship. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer also argued that the founders could not have imagined the rise of “birth tourism,” where women come to the United States to give birth so their children have U.S. citizenship. The ACLU’s Cecillia Wang represented the challengers. She argued that the constitution establishes a “fixed bright-line” rule for citizenship that is “workable” and “prevents manipulation.” Trump, in a first for a sitting U.S. president, attended the proceedings and remained for Sauer’s presentation.