The president heard oral arguments in relation to the case that seeks to end automatic citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants.
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President Donald Trump made history this Wednesday when he became the first president to attend a Supreme Court session, sitting in the gallery of the highest court while the judges listened to oral arguments surrounding an executive order that prohibits citizenship by birth in the United States.
Until today, no sitting president had attended a Supreme Court hearing, although they are technically allowed to do so. Trump said he would attend the session for the case involving the trade tariffs he had imposed in April last year, but he later changed course. The High Court ruled against Trump in that case in February.
In this case, which Trump attended today, the magistrates heard arguments about whether all children born in the United States can continue to automatically receive citizenship. The court decision, which will be issued in a few months, could reshape what has been a constitutionally enshrined practice for a long time and which the White House
has questioned. Trump signs the executive order.
The case that reached the Supreme Court
Shortly after returning to the White House last year, Trump signed an executive order prohibiting the children of illegal immigrants or foreigners with temporary visas from receiving citizenship at birth. The order was quickly challenged by Democrats in a series of lawsuits arguing that the decree violated the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which grants citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, regardless of their
parents' immigration status.
The text of this amendment has been subject to scrutiny in recent years. “The notion that foreign citizens can secure U.S. citizenship for their children simply by being present on U.S. soil, legally or illegally, has no basis in the text, history, or original understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment,” said attorney Ryan Williams
.
If the Court ends up agreeing with Trump, 150,000 children born on U.S. soil to foreign parents every year will be affected, ending one of the most common practices among illegal immigrants. Public opinion on the issue shows that Americans reject the idea of automatic citizenship for children born to parents who immigrated illegally
