The deadline passed on July 28, 2026, for the administration to seek rehearing of the Supreme Court’s June decision rejecting President Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship. The Court ruled 6–3 against the order. The underlying dispute concerns the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and whether children born in the United States are citizens regardless of their parents’ immigration status, subject to historically narrow exceptions. The policy arguments include constitutional text, historical practice, illegal immigration, family unity, administrative feasibility, and whether a president can change the meaning of citizenship without a constitutional amendment or act of Congress. Citizenship should be a stable legal status, not something that changes with each administration or depends on a child proving the circumstances of a parent’s entry years earlier.
What principle should govern citizenship for children born in the United States?