Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he will ask the United States Supreme Court to rehear the birthright citizenship Supreme Court case after the court ruled against his order in June. The request follows a 6-3 decision that rejected his effort to bar some children born in the US from automatic citizenship.
On Truth Social, he wrote, “AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP IS NOT FOR SALE! In fact, that is a crime, and therefore, the Supreme Court’s ruling is wrong,” and added, “I will be asking for a Rehearing by the United States Supreme Court, IMMEDIATELY.” Trump also called the ruling “too bad for our country.”
Trump and the June ruling
Trump signed an executive order on January 20, 2025, seeking to bar those born in the US to parents on temporary legal statuses or without documentation from automatically receiving US citizenship. The Supreme Court ruled in June against that order, and its majority opinion suggested that a constitutional amendment would be required.
The case matters beyond Trump’s latest filing because a Migration Policy Institute-Penn State study released in May of last year said an estimated 255,000 infants a year would be born in the US without citizenship under the order. The study also said the undocumented population would increase by 2.7 million by 2045 and warned that the order “would create a self-perpetuating, multigenerational underclass – with US-born residents inheriting the social disadvantage borne by their parents and even, over time, their grandparents and great-grandparents”.
Cecillia Wang on the ruling
ACLU lawyer Cecillia Wang, who argued the challenge at the Supreme Court, said the decision “reaffirms a fundamental American promise – if you are born here, you are a citizen”. Rights groups welcomed the outcome after the court’s 6-3 ruling.
Trump also appealed to Republicans in Congress to pass legislation constricting birthright citizenship, adding a legislative track to the fight after the court’s decision. The Supreme Court has rarely granted requests to rehear cases, and it has been decades since it last allowed a retrial after issuing a ruling in an argued case, leaving Trump with a difficult path if he wants the justices to revisit the issue.
Republicans in Congress
Trump’s filing now points to the Supreme Court again, but the practical question is whether the justices will take the unusual step of reopening a case they decided 6-3 only weeks ago. If they do not, the fight over birthright citizenship will shift back to Congress, where Trump has already asked Republicans in Congress to act.
