Here’s what parents need to know.
‘Subject to the jurisdiction thereof’
The dispute before the court centers on the 14th Amendment, ratified after the Civil War, which declares that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”
Courts and the federal government have long interpreted that language to guarantee citizenship to nearly anyone born on American soil, regardless of their parents’ immigration status, with narrow exceptions such as the children of diplomats. But Trump’s order, signed on the first day of his second term, directs federal agencies not to recognize the citizenship of babies born in the United States unless at least one parent is a citizen or lawful permanent resident.
The Trump Administration’s argument rests almost entirely on the 14th Amendment’s inclusion of the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” which it says excludes children of people who are in the country unlawfully or only temporarily. In court filings, government lawyers have invoked concepts like “allegiance” and “domicile,” arguing that birthright citizenship was never meant to extend to those without a permanent connection to the United States.
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