The Supreme Court and Trump: From Birthright to Presidential Power

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:05)
Today, on the final day of its term, the Supreme Court handed down a major ruling on birthright citizenship.

**James Romoser** (0:16)
The headline today is that the Supreme Court resoundingly rejected one of Donald Trump's most aggressive policy moves, his bid to curtail birthright citizenship.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:27)
That's our colleague, James Romoser. He covers the Supreme Court.
And why is this decision so important?

**James Romoser** (0:35)
Well, it's really important because if Trump had succeeded in ending the deep-rooted understanding of birthright citizenship, it would have transformed what it means to be a citizen in America, and it would have jeopardized the citizenship of hundreds to thousands of future children born on American soil to undocumented immigrants or temporary visitors.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:00)
And it's quite a note to end on for this term. But when you look back on the Supreme Court term, which goes all the way back to October of last year, how would you describe it in a couple of words?

**James Romoser** (1:11)
In a couple of words.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:12)
A couple of sentences?

**James Romoser** (1:15)
Frankly, it's one of the most historic and consequential terms that the Supreme Court has had in decades.
The court's docket was dominated by really significant Trump-related disputes. The court weighed in on Trump's global terrorist program. It weighed in on his bid to exert control over formerly independent agencies. And finally today, in its last opinion of the term, before the justices rose for their summer recess, it ruled on birthright citizenship.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:56)
Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Tuesday, June 30th.
Coming up on the show, a monumental term at the Supreme Court.

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**Jessica Mendoza** (4:00)
Birthright citizenship is the idea that anyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen. It's enshrined as a right in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, under what's called the Citizenship Clause.

**James Romoser** (4:11)
The Citizenship Clause says, all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States.

**Jessica Mendoza** (4:24)
This clause gave citizenship to formerly enslaved people after the Civil War, and it's come to shape who gets to be an American, anyone born here, no matter where their parents are from. But today, with more immigrants coming into the US illegally, President Trump and other conservatives have grown louder in their calls to rethink birthright citizenship.

**James Romoser** (4:44)
What Trump and his supporters say is that the guarantee of birthright citizenship essentially attracts illegal immigration.
They call this the concept of birth tourism. They say that immigrants come to the United States without authorization. They come here illegally for the purpose of having children here, knowing that their children will be automatically entitled to citizenship.

**Jessica Mendoza** (5:12)
And on his first day in office, Trump took action on it right away. He signed an executive order limiting birthright citizenship only to children born to US citizens.
Almost immediately, advocacy groups challenged the executive order in court.

**James Romoser** (5:28)
Numerous lower courts immediately blocked Trump's executive order from taking effect. Various judges called it flagrantly unconstitutional and illegal.