Topline<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump seemed to preemptively attack Supreme Court justices as \u201cstupid\u201d and \u201cdumb\u201d\u2014ignoring a warning from Justice John Roberts about \u201cdangerous\u201d rhetoric<\/a>\u2014as they prepare to hear oral arguments Wednesday in a landmark case challenging Trump\u2019s executive order limiting birthright citizenship.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office at the White House on March 24 in Washington, DC. <\/p>\n Getty ImagesKey Facts<\/p>\n The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday in Trump v. Barbara, a case concerning the legality of Trump\u2019s executive order saying babies born in the U.S. cannot be citizens if their parents aren\u2019t U.S. citizens or permanent residents themselves.<\/p>\n Trump claimed<\/a> Monday morning the U.S. is \u201cthe only Country in the World that dignifies\u201d the topic of birthright citizenship \u201cwith even discussion\u201d\u2014which is false<\/a>\u2014and expressed pessimism the Supreme Court would rule in his favor, after the court previously ruled against his signature tariff policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Other countries are \u201claughing at how STUPID our U.S. Court System has become\u201d while taking advantage of U.S. citizenship by birth, Trump claimed on Truth Social, adding, \u201cDumb Judges and Justices will not a great Country make!\u201d<\/p>\n The 14th Amendment grants<\/a> citizenship to \u201call persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,\u201d which has long been interpreted as guaranteeing citizenship by birth in nearly all cases, except for children of foreign diplomats or enemy soldiers.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has adopted a novel legal theory claiming children of undocumented immigrants or temporary U.S. residents are not \u201csubject to the jurisdiction\u201d of the U.S., with Trump\u2019s executive order stating<\/a> children born in the U.S. are not citizens unless at least one of their parents is a citizen or permanent resident at the time of their birth.<\/p>\n Parents and children impacted by the decision, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, have challenged the order in court, arguing it\u2019s unlawful and the court should affirm the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to children even when their parents aren\u2019t permanent residents or citizens.<\/p>\n What To Watch For<\/p>\n The court will hear oral arguments Wednesday in the birthright citizenship case and issue a ruling in the coming months, sometime before the court\u2019s term ends in late June. Trump\u2019s order limiting birthright citizenship is not in effect while the court is deliberating, meaning babies born in the U.S. to temporary or undocumented immigrants will still be granted citizenship at least until the court rules.<\/p>\n Big Number<\/p>\n 255,000. That\u2019s the approximate number of babies who would be affected by Trump\u2019s executive order each year if it takes effect, according<\/a> to the Migration Policy Institute and Penn State\u2019s Population Research Institute. <\/p>\n Surprising Fact<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s order limiting birthright citizenship is part of the president\u2019s broader crackdown on undocumented immigration. If it takes effect, the Migration Policy Institute projects<\/a> the number of undocumented immigrants would significantly increase, however, estimating there would be an additional 2.7 million by 2045 and 5.4 million by 2075.<\/p>\n Do Other Countries Have Birthright Citizenship?<\/p>\n Yes. While Trump has claimed birthright citizenship is unique to the U.S., nearly 40<\/a> other countries have policies guaranteeing citizenship to people who are born there. Countries with birthright citizenship policies are largely concentrated in North, Central and South America and include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Canada, Ecuador, Mexico, Pakistan and Venezuela, among others.<\/p>\n Is \u201cbirth Tourism\u201d An Issue?<\/p>\n Trump has repeatedly railed against birthright citizenship by claiming people take advantage of it through \u201cbirth tourism,\u201d meaning they travel to the U.S. specifically to give birth so that their children will have citizenship. \u201cThe World is getting rich selling citizenships to our Country,\u201d Trump wrote Monday, referring to companies that charge<\/a> foreign nationals thousands of dollars to help facilitate \u201cbirth tourism.\u201d It\u2019s widely disputed how many births each year are attributable to \u201cbirth tourism\u201d: Republican lawmakers cited figures in a court brief<\/a> claiming there have been up to 1.5 million Chinese nationals alone who have given birth in the U.S. over the past 15 years, while the Center for Immigration Studies has estimated<\/a> there are a much lower 20,000 to 26,000 births attributable to \u201cbirth tourism\u201d each year. The Niskanen Center, a nonpartisan think tank, has taken issue with the Center for Immigration Studies\u2019 figures, which analyzed government figures on foreign-born mothers, and instead estimates<\/a> there are actually less than 2,000 babies born out of \u201cbirth tourism\u201d each year. While Trump and other Republicans have argued for restrictions to birthright citizenship in order to curb \u201cbirth tourism,\u201d challengers in the birthright citizenship case have argued it has only a \u201cmarginal\u201d impact in practice, and the government can impose other ways of restricting it\u2014as it already does by refusing tourist visas to people who may be traveling to the U.S. to give birth. A coalition of 140 social sciences professors similarly argued<\/a> in a brief to the court the practice \u201caccounts for an infinitesimal proportion of the children who receive birthright citizenship each year.\u201d<\/p>\n Key Background<\/p>\n Trump issued his birthright citizenship order on his first day in office in January 2025, but it has never taken effect, as numerous courts immediately struck it down as unlawful. The Supreme Court considered a different case on the birthright citizenship order last term, ruling<\/a> lower court judges representing a single state or region could not issue rulings that unilaterally block policies nationwide, but that case did not consider whether Trump\u2019s executive order was lawful. Trump\u2019s post Monday comes after the president has repeatedly attacked the Supreme Court in the wake of its 6-3 ruling striking down his tariffs as unlawful, with the president calling<\/a> the high court \u201clittle more than a weaponized and unjust Political Organization.\u201d He has also suggested he doesn\u2019t trust the Supreme Court to rule in his favor on birthright citizenship\u2014even as the court has ruled<\/a> in his favor in his second term more often than not\u2014saying<\/a> after the tariff ruling he believes the court \u201cwill find a way to come to the wrong conclusion\u201d on birthright citizenship. Roberts criticized<\/a> the attacks on the court at an event in Houston on March 17, saying \u201cpersonally directed hostility\u201d against justices \u201cis dangerous and has got to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n Further ReadingForbesJustice Warns Against \u2018Dangerous\u2019 Attacks On Supreme Court\u2014After Trump Slammed JusticesBy Alison Durkee<\/a>ForbesTrump Complains He\u2019ll Lose Birthright Citizenship Case\u2014Continuing Rant Against Supreme Court Tariff RulingBy Sara Dorn<\/a>ForbesSupreme Court Will Rule On Trump\u2019s Challenge To Birthright CitizenshipBy Antonio Peque\u00f1o IV<\/a>ForbesSupreme Court Limits Judges From Blocking Some Trump Policies\u2014But Punts On Birthright Citizenship RuleBy Alison Durkee<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline President Donald Trump seemed to preemptively attack Supreme Court justices as \u201cstupid\u201d and \u201cdumb\u201d\u2014ignoring a warning from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[146],"tags":[537,12,493,535,539,536,520,540,541,538],"class_list":{"0":"post-389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-john-roberts","8":"tag-birthright-citizenship","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-immigration","11":"tag-john-roberts","12":"tag-oral-arguments","13":"tag-supreme-court","14":"tag-trump-administration","15":"tag-trump-attacks-supreme-court","16":"tag-trump-executive-order","17":"tag-trump-v-barbara"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116325514103802628","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}