Oral arguments on President Donald Trump’s attempt to abolish birthright citizenship will be heard by the Supreme Court on Thursday. Of particular importance is the question of whether lower courts that have prevented Trump’s measures from going into effect across the country have overreached themselves.
The conservative majority’s 6–3 ruling could have far-reaching effects on Trump’s presidency as his attorneys battle a barrage of cases in federal courts around the country.
The lower court judges in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington state who earlier this year issued “universal” injunctions against Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship are anticipated to be the main focus of the Supreme Court’s arguments.
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court in March to intervene and limit the scope of three lower court rulings to cover only individuals directly impacted by the relevant courts (or potentially, the 22 states that challenged Trump’s executive order). But that’s unlikely to be the primary theme at the center of Thursday’s high-profile debate.
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Demonstrators hold up signs during a “Hands Off!” protest against President Donald Trump at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., on April 5. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Rather, justices are expected to use the oral arguments to weigh the authority of lower courts to issue nationwide, or “universal” injunctions blocking presidential policies — teeing up a high-stakes showdown that pits Trump’s Article II powers against Article III courts.
The hearing comes as Trump and his allies have railed against so-called “activist” judges, whom they have accused of overstepping their powers and acting politically to block Trump’s policies. The president even suggested that a federal judge in Washington, D.C., be impeached for his ruling earlier this year, which prompted a rare public rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts.
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President Donald Trump shakes hands with U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20.
Trump has signed more than 150 executive orders in his second term, inviting a seemingly unrelenting wave of challenges in court. Many of these orders have been blocked by federal judges across the country, who have restricted Trump’s use of a 1798 wartime immigration law to deport certain migrants, ordered the administration to reinstate certain government personnel and sought to impose limits on Elon Musk’s government efficiency organization, DOGE, among other orders.
While Trump allies accuse these judges of political bias and overreach, others critical of the administration say the courts have not gone far enough to rein in Trump’s attempts to expand the executive branch’s powers.
“The second Trump administration has taken the guardrails off of the norms that historically governed the rule of law, and is undertaking steps to enhance the perceived power of the executive branch to the detriment of the two other co-equal branches,” Mark Zaid, a D.C.-based attorney who has sued Trump in several high-profile cases, told Fox News Digitial in an interview to mark his first 100 days in office.
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President Donald Trump and U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.
Justices on the Supreme Court will consider a trio of consolidated cases involving nationwide injunctions handed down by federal judges in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington state that blocked Trump’s ban on birthright citizenship from taking force.
However, the policy is still very unpopular. The Trump administration has been sued by more than 22 U.S. states and immigration rights organizations to stop the change to birthright citizenship, claiming in court documents that the executive order is “unprecedented” and unconstitutional.
Additionally, despite several district courts preventing it from going into force, no court has yet to support the Trump administration’s executive order that aims to outlaw birthright citizenship.
