Trump claims birthright citizenship not protected by US Constitution

President Donald Trump vowed Wednesday to take his fight against birthright citizenship to the Supreme Court, claiming in a tweet that the practice of extending citizenship to children born in the U.S., even if their parents are not citizens, is not a constitutionally protected right.

Trump wrote in a tweet Wednesday that birthright citizenship costs taxpayers billions of dollars while being “very unfair to our citizens.”

“It is not covered by the 14th Amendment because of the words ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof,’” Trump wrote. “This case will be settled by the United States Supreme Court!”

According to the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.”

Trump told Axios in an interview published Monday that he was considering signing an executive order to end birthright citizenship. However, legal scholars and politicos across the political spectrum appeared to agree that if such an order is signed, it's likely to face an immediate court challenge.

“You can’t change the Constitution with an executive order,” Cox Media Group’s Jamie Dupree said.

In an op-ed published Tuesday by The Washington Post, attorney George Conway broke with his wife, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, and called the president's proposal to end birthright citizenship unconstitutional.

"Sometimes the Constitution's text is plain as day and bars what politicians seek to do," Conway and attorney Neal Katyal wrote in the op-ed. "That's the case with President Trump's proposal to end 'birthright citizenship' through an executive order."

About the Author