Trump Watches Supreme Court Debate on Birthright Citizenship (2)

President Donald Trump was in attendance as the US Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of his bid to curb who is eligible for automatic citizenship when born in the US. It was the first time a sitting president has attended an argument in recorded Supreme Court history.

Read More: Trump Seeks to Upend Citizenship Rules at Supreme Court

The justices are questioning the Trump administration’s assertion that the birthright citizenship provision in the Constitution was designed to cover the children of freed slaves and should not be applied as broadly as it has been.

Trump left the court as the arguments were ongoing to return to the White House.

Critics say Trump is seeking to rewrite the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868. The first sentence of the amendment promises citizenship to “all persons” who are born in the US and “subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” a provision many scholars, advocates and public officials say is straightforward in its breadth.

Trump’s attendance at the argument created an unusual spectacle inside the courtroom. Presidents occasionally go to ceremonial Supreme Court sessions — such as the formal investiture of a new justice — but no chief executive has sat through an argument, at least in the modern era.

The president sat a few feet away from the justices, including those he derided in personal terms after the court struck downhis signature global tariffs in February. The argument Wednesday takes place with Trump still smarting from the court’s Feb. 20 decision striking down his global tariffs. He mentioned both cases Monday when he blasted “Dumb Judges and Justices” in a social media post.

The Supreme Court ruled in an 1898 decision known as US v. Wong Kim Ark that the citizenship clause covered a man born in California to two Chinese parents. The 6-2 decision scrutinized the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” and concluded it was written to exclude only a few narrow classes of people, including the children of invaders, foreign ambassadors and Native Americans.

The departure statement of Wong Kim Ark.

Photographer: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Trump suggested on several occasions he would attend the tariffs arguments but he never did show up. He announced his intention to attend the birthright citizenship arguments on Tuesday.

“I do believe, because I have listened to this argument for so long, and this is not about Chinese billionaires, who are billionaires from other countries, who all of a sudden have 75 children, or 59 children in one case, or 10 children becoming American citizens,” Trump told reporters. “This was about slaves. And if you take a look, slaves, we’re talking about slaves from the Civil War.”

Trump’s executive order would block citizenship for an estimated 250,000 children of undocumented immigrants and temporary visitors each year. Democrats say Trump’s plan would also strip millions of current Americans of their citizenship, along with their ability to vote and get passports. Trump issued the order last year on his first day back in the presidency.

(Updates with Trump leaving Supreme Court in third paragraph.)

--With assistance from Justin Wise.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net

Elizabeth Wasserman

© 2026 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.