US President Donald Trump attended the Supreme Court hearing this Wednesday (1st) to debate the legality of his executive order limiting citizenship by birth, which the Republican wants to deny to children of undocumented parents or those with temporary visas.
This is the first time that a sitting US president has appeared at a hearing before the Supreme Court, which in June 2025 ruled in Trump’s favor and overturned lower court injunctions against his administration’s policy.
The president arrived about ten minutes before the hearing began and took his place in the front row of the public gallery. Trump listened silently, hands clasped, as the session began, a short distance from the podium where Attorney General John Sauer was presenting his administration’s position.
Limiting automatic citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants was one of the campaign promises of the Republican leader, who returned to power more than a year ago with a tough policy against illegal immigration.
The president signed the executive order on the same day he took office for his second term, in January 2025, although it was challenged almost immediately in courts in several states.
The Supreme Court’s decision to hear arguments in this case means a review of a right enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which since the 19th century has guaranteed American citizenship to people born in the US.
Trump defended his position by saying that this legislation was passed after the Civil War (1861-1865) to protect the “children of slaves” and not “those who take vacations to obtain American citizenship.”
Last June, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority (6 to 3) ruled in Trump’s favor on his request to lift injunctions issued by judges in Maryland, Washington and Massachusetts, who had ruled, in separate rulings, that the president does not have the authority to amend or restrict the Constitution.
The Supreme Court did not rule on the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order, but rather on the jurisdiction of lower courts and the legality of their decisions to block an executive order nationwide.
Legal experts, human rights advocates and critics of the president have questioned this limitation, arguing that birthright citizenship is a constitutional right that cannot be revoked by a presidential order.
Although they did not participate in sessions while in office, several presidents have had contact with the Supreme Court. Richard Nixon (1969-1974) brought a case before the court in 1967, between his terms as vice president and president, while William Howard Taft served as chief judge after his presidency (1909-1913).
