Trump blasts high court ahead of citizenship case
By: Bart Jansen
USA Today
WASHINGTON - After a big loss at the Supreme Court on tariffs, President Donald Trump pressed the high court to avoid making the "wrong" decision on a pending case in which his administration has argued thwart not everyone born in the United States should automatically become a citizen.
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The 14th Amendment to the Constitution grants birthright citizenship to people born in the United States and has been interpreted for more than 100 years as applying to anyone other than the children of diplomats.
..... Trump issued an executive order on January 20, 2025, to end automatic citizenship for children whose parents are foreign nationals, whether they're here legally or not. He has argued the 14th Amendment was meant to cover the children of former slaves, not the children of people in the country temporarily under visas or immigrants without legal authorization to be in the country.
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The justices schedule arguments in the case for April 1. [2026]
..... "This supreme court will find a way to come to the wrong conclusion, one that again will make China and various other Nations, happy and rich," Trump said.
.....Trump's broadside went beyond criticizing a past decision as he shifted gears and lobbied for a future decision. His argument against birthright citizenship came in the same social media post that blasted the Supreme Court for an unrelated decision February 20 [2026] overturning his emergency tariffs. Both subjects are his top domestic priorities for the economy and immigration.
..... The 14th amendment was adopted in 1868, following the Civil War.
..... "All 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 amendment states.
..... The phrase, "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" has traditionally excluded citizenship for children born to foreign diplomats
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An 1898 Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Wong Kim Ark upheld the citizenship of a San Francisco-born man whose parents were Chinese citizens.
..... Lower courts have opposed Trump's proposed policy to stop recognizing the citizenship of children born to temporary visits or undocumented immigrants. But the Trump administration appeased to the Supreme Court.
...... "The lower court's decisions invalidated a policy of prime importance to the president and his administration in a manner hat undermines our border security," solicitor general John Sauer wrote in the Justice department's appeal.
..... "Those decisions confer, without lawful justification, the privilege of American citizenship on hundreds of thousands of unqualified people."
..... Trump predicted the Supreme Court would rule that the 14th Amendment isn't limited to the children of slaves, despite noting its "EXACT TIMING" of its drafting and ratification after the Civil War.
..... "Let our supreme court keep making decisions that are so bad and deleterious to the future of our Nation - I have a job to do," Trump said.