Some conservative-leaning justices had hard questions for Solicitor General John Sauer on Wednesday when he argued to reverse nearly 130 years of precedent on birthright citizenship, as President Donald Trump was in attendance.
The case involves Trump’s executive order instructing agencies not to recognize citizenship for U.S.-born children without at least one parent who is an American citizen.
Birthright citizenship is the view that anyone born in the United States—even a child of illegal immigrants—is automatically a U.S. citizen.
Sauer noted during Wednesday’s oral arguments that China has 500 birth tourism companies that bring women to the United States to give birth and return to China with a U.S. citizen.
Chief Justice John Roberts said, “Having said all that, you do agree that has no impact on the legal analysis before us.”
“It’s a new world where 8 billion people are one plane ride away from giving birth to a new U.S. citizen,” Sauer replied.
Roberts said, “Well, it’s a new world, but it’s the same Constitution.”
This case has the potential to overturn a Supreme Court precedent dating back to 1898, when the court upheld birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment, enacted to grant citizenship to freed slaves after the Civil War.
Trump, the first president in history to attend a Supreme Court argument, reportedly left the building after Sauer concluded his arguments.
After the arguments concluded, Trump wrote in a social media post, “We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow ‘Birthright’ Citizenship!”
Notably, three Trump-appointed justices asked tough questions of Sauer. Justice Amy Coney Barrett seemed the most skeptical, calling the government’s argument “puzzling” and potentially “messy” to apply.
This story is developing and will be updated.
