Trump’s top lawyer, deputy attorney general John SauerChief Justice John Roberts got into a heated argument Wednesday during a Supreme Court hearing on birthright citizenship. Before Justice Roberts interjected, the 51-year-old argued that there was a “new world.”
“This is a new world where billions of people are now just a flight away from the United States,” Sauer said.
Chief Roberts quickly responded to Saul, saying: “It’s a new world, but the constitution is the same”
Saul further added that “no one knows for sure,” referring to the scope of “birth tourism.”
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Meanwhile, the Supreme Court began hearing arguments over Trump’s order ending birthright citizenship for children born illegally or temporarily in the United States.
Trump signed the birthright citizenship order on Jan. 20, 2025, the first day of his second term, as part of his Republican administration’s broad crackdown on immigration. The president attended Wednesday’s hearing.
Sauer’s argument focuses on the concepts of allegiance and permanent residence. He told the court that the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was never intended to apply broadly to all individuals born on U.S. soil.
The provision, he explained, “was passed shortly after the Civil War to grant citizenship to newly freed slaves and their children whose allegiance to the United States had been established by the generations who had settled here.”
He added that it does not “confer citizenship to the children of temporary visitors or illegal aliens who do not have such allegiance.”
Sauer also insisted that Trump’s executive order “only applies to the future.”
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The government’s position, however, was met with resistance from both conservative and liberal judges.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned that the logic behind this argument could have far-reaching implications, suggesting it could allow a future president to strip citizenship from individuals born in the United States years later.
Chief Justice Roberts questioned whether existing exceptions to birthright citizenship, such as those of children of diplomats or foreign invaders, could reasonably be expanded to cover undocumented immigrants. He said it was unclear how those limited examples applied to “an entire class of illegal immigrants.”
He added that he was not sure “how to get such a large group from such a small and special example.”
Justice Neil Gorsuch also raised doubts, noting that there was little historical discussion to support Sauer’s reliance on residence. Justice Elena Kagan echoed those concerns, saying part of the government’s argument was based on “some pretty vague sources.”
The debate goes back to the origins of the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Clarence Thomas questioned whether immigration played any meaningful role in these discussions, asking: “How much of the debate surrounding the 14th Amendment has to do with immigration?”
Opponents of the government’s view point to long-standing precedent. The 1898 Supreme Court decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark established that children born in the United States to foreign parents were citizens.
In that ruling, Justice Horace Gray wrote that the Fourteenth Amendment “affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory,” including children born to aliens.
Chief Justice Roberts also pressed Saul on modern issues such as “birth tourism,” in which individuals travel to the United States to give birth in order for their children to gain citizenship.
Asked about the scale of the problem, Saul acknowledged the uncertainty and said “no one knows for sure” while citing “media estimates.”
While birthright citizenship is firmly established in the United States, it remains uncommon globally, with most countries relying on the principle of jus sanguinis, or citizenship based on the nationality of the parents.
(With AP input)
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