Topline
The Supreme Court will determine the legality of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that seeks to end birthright citizenship, setting the stage for a landmark decision that could upend a more than 200-year-old law that provided citizenship to anyone born in the U.S.
Trump signed his executive order against birthright citizenship in January.
Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to review Trump’s executive order.
Trump’s executive order was signed in January but has remained paused since then following several legal challenges.
It is unclear when exactly the high court will consider the case, though The New York Times reported oral arguments are likely to be had in the next few months before a decision by June or July.
The 14th Amendment, which is at the heart of the case, plainly says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
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Big Number
255,000. That is roughly the average number of children who would be born each year in the U.S. without citizenship if birthright citizenship was removed, according to the Migration Policy Institute and Penn State’s Population Research Institute. The projections from the institutes also estimated the population of immigrants lacking permanent legal status would increase to 2.7 million by 2045 and 5.4 million by 2075.