Trump Seeks Supreme Court Rehearing After Birthright Citizenship Order Is Rejected

United States President Donald Trump has announced plans to ask the US Supreme Court to rehear a landmark immigration case after the court struck down his executive order seeking to end automatic birthright citizenship.

The Supreme Court rejected the administration's attempt to restrict the long-standing constitutional practice, but Trump said he would immediately file a petition requesting the justices to reconsider the ruling.

Writing on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, the president strongly criticised the decision, insisting that American citizenship should not be granted automatically under the current interpretation of the law and describing the court's judgment as fundamentally flawed.

The 6-3 ruling marked a significant setback for the administration's immigration agenda. Shortly after returning to office on January 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order aimed at denying automatic US citizenship to children born in the country to parents who are either in the United States illegally or on temporary visas.

Following the court's decision, Trump urged lawmakers to pursue legislative reforms to limit birthright citizenship. However, legal experts note that such efforts face major constitutional obstacles, as the Supreme Court indicated that altering birthright citizenship would likely require a constitutional amendment rather than executive action.

Legal analysts also say the administration's request for a rehearing is unlikely to succeed, noting that the Supreme Court rarely grants such petitions after issuing a final judgment.

Despite the setback, the Trump administration has secured several legal victories on other immigration policies since returning to office. Courts have allowed the government to begin ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals of certain countries and have upheld tougher border enforcement measures aimed at limiting asylum claims.

However, the Supreme Court ruled that the executive order on birthright citizenship violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to individuals born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction.

Civil rights groups welcomed the ruling, describing it as a reaffirmation of one of the Constitution's core protections.

Researchers also warned that ending birthright citizenship could have had significant long-term consequences. A joint study by the Migration Policy Institute and Penn State University estimated that the policy would have left about 255,000 children born each year without legal status, potentially increasing the undocumented population by 2.7 million people by 2045.