The Supreme Court met in private on Friday with a high-profile issue on its agenda — President Donald Trump ’s birthright citizenship order declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.
The justices could say as soon as Monday whether they will hear Trump’s appeal of lower court rulings that have uniformly struck down the citizenship restrictions. They have not taken effect anywhere in the United States.
The birthright citizenship order, which Trump signed on the first day of his second term in the White House, is part of his administration’s broad immigration crackdown. Other actions include immigration enforcement surges in several cities and the first peacetime invocation of the 18th century Alien Enemies Act.
The administration is up against several court challenges, and the high court has sent mixed messages in emergency orders it has issued. The justices effectively stopped the use of the Alien Enemies Act* to rapidly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without court hearings, while they allowed the resumption of sweeping immigration stops in the Los Angeles area after a lower court blocked the practice of stopping people solely based on their race, language, job or location.
The justices are also weighing the administration’s emergency appeal to be allowed to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area for immigration enforcement actions. A lower court has indefinitely prevented the deployment.
Birthright citizenship is the first Trump immigration-related policy to reach the court for a final ruling. Trump’s order would upend more than 125 years of understanding that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment confers citizenship on everyone born on American soil, with narrow exceptions for the children of foreign diplomats and those born to a foreign occupying force.
* The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is a U.S. law that allows the president to apprehend, restrain, or remove citizens of an enemy nation during wartime or invasion. The president can invoke the act when there is a declared war or a proclaimed "invasion or predatory incursion" against the U.S.. Historically, it has been used against nationals of enemy powers, most notably leading to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. In 2025, President Trump invoked the act to deport members of the "Tren de Aragua" gang, sparking legal challenges regarding the act's application in a non-congressionally declared war.