The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments on April 1, 2026, in Trump v. Barbara, challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship. Trump attended the hearing in person—the first sitting president to do so—before leaving midway and posting criticism on Truth Social. A majority of justices expressed skepticism toward the administration’s arguments.
President Donald Trump arrived at the Supreme Court around 10 a.m. ET for arguments on his January 2025 executive order, which seeks to deny automatic US citizenship to children born in the country to parents who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents, including those on temporary visas. Solicitor General D. John Sauer defended the order, arguing that the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause—“all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens”—requires parental allegiance and domicile, excluding certain immigrants. The order has been blocked by lower courts since its issuance on Trump’s first day of his second term. Trump departed after Sauer’s presentation, around 11:20 a.m., without hearing the ACLU’s Cecillia Wang argue against it. He later posted on Truth Social: “We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow ‘Birthright’ Citizenship!” referencing birthright citizenship, or jus soli, affirmed in the 1898 case United States v. Wong Kim Ark. Chief Justice John Roberts questioned expanding “quirky” exceptions like children of diplomats or enemy invaders, replying to Sauer’s modern immigration concerns: “It’s a new world; it’s the same Constitution.” Justice Amy Coney Barrett pressed Sauer on enslaved people brought illegally and lacking intent to stay, undermining his domicile theory, and raised issues with children of trafficking victims. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh also challenged Sauer’s historical claims, with Gorsuch doubting reliance on Wong Kim Ark and Kavanaugh noting the amendment’s broader text over prior statutes. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito asked questions more favorable to the administration, but the three liberal justices opposed it outright. The court is expected to rule by late June or early July.
