The Department of Justice is asking the Supreme Court to review – and decide – the birthright citizenship case this term.
The fight is over whether the 14th Amendment grants American citizenship to the children of illegal aliens who have broken U.S. laws to enter then give birth inside U.S. borders.
President Donald Trump contends that’s not what the writers of the Constitution intended, even though that’s been the practice for a good many years already.
A report at the Washington Examiner explained the Trump administration filed two petitions seeking the review soon.
The petitions, filed Friday, appeared on the court’s public docket Monday.
The cases were launched by Democrat-run states and groups of people who might be affected.
The largest case going before SCOTUS in my lifetime will be birthright citizenship.
It’s just over Roe v. IMO
The author of the 14th Amendment when he addressed Congress told them:
1.) Foreigners
2.) Aliens
Were not included in birthright citizenship. pic.twitter.com/IxnqJX1Qi1— The Old Man Down The Road (@baronofbarons) September 27, 2025
When the issue originally arose, Trump commented:
REPORTER: A short time ago the Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments in the case about ending birthright citizenship. How confident are you that the court will rule in your favor?@POTUS: “I am so happy. I think the case has been so misunderstood… birthright citizenship… pic.twitter.com/GIhuPQBAZ0
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 17, 2025
.@RepGrothman explains how the 14th Amendment was NEVER intended to grant birthright citizenship to children of illegal aliens:
“It does not say all persons born in the U.S. become citizens… It did not include anybody who just happened to show up here, have a baby, and move on” pic.twitter.com/vAajnLnRrC
— NumbersUSA (@NumbersUSA) January 22, 2025
Experts have contended that the 14th Amendment never was intended to create massive grants of citizenship to children of illegal aliens.
The Examiner report said the fight stems from Trump’s order in January that said the amendment does not include children born on U.S. soil to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily.
“The issues in this petition are unquestionably cert-worthy,” the DOJ said. “The government has a compelling interest in ensuring that American citizenship — the privilege that allows us to choose our political leaders — is granted only to those who are lawfully entitled to it.”
The filing noted a lower court ruling against the president actually causes problems, invalidating “a policy of prime importance to the President and his Administration in a manner that undermines our border security. Those decisions confer, without lawful justification, the privilege of American citizenship on hundreds of thousands of unqualified people.”
Earlier this year, the high court addressed the issue, but did not decide the core question.
The fight was the vehicle for the Supreme Court to put a limit on nationwide injunctions that were commonly being used by lower court judges to control the president’s international policies, economic policies and much more.