With President Donald Trump present, U.S. Supreme Court justices signaled skepticism on Wednesday toward the legality of his directive to restrict birthright citizenship in the U.S., part of his hardline immigration approach that would upend long-held understanding of a key constitutional provision.
In his historic visit to the top U.S. judicial body, Trump, wearing a red tie and dark suit, sat in the front row of the public gallery of the ornate courtroom after arriving by motorcade from the White House. The Republican president then left midway through the proceedings not long after the lawyer arguing for his administration completed his presentation.
Several of the nine justices, conservatives and liberals alike, grilled the Justice Department lawyer defending Trump’s action with questions about various legal aspects of his directive. The court has a 6-3 conservative majority.
The justices heard more than two hours of arguments in the Trump administration’s appeal of a lower court’s decision that blocked his executive order directing U.S. agencies not to recognize the citizenship of children born in the United States if neither parent is an American citizen or legal permanent resident, also called a “green card” holder.Also Read: In historic first, Trump attends Supreme Court arguments
Trump became the first sitting president to attend an oral argument at the Supreme Court, according to Clare Cushman, the resident historian at the Supreme Court Historical Society. Trump, joined by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, was at the courthouse for a bit more than an hour and a half.
‘PRICELESS AND PROFOUND GIFT’ U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer, representing the administration, opened the arguments by saying that “unrestricted birthright citizenship contradicts the practice of the overwhelming majority of modern nations.”
“It demeans the priceless and profound gift of American citizenship,” Sauer said. “It operates as a powerful pull factor for illegal immigration and rewards illegal aliens who not only violate the immigration laws but also jump in front of those who follow the rules.”
Trump’s directive issued last year violated citizenship language in the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment as well as a federal law codifying birthright citizenship rights, the lower court found, acting in a class-action lawsuit by parents and children whose citizenship i
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