Supreme Court takes up Trump birthright citizenship order in high-profile oral arguments

ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero responded to news that President Donald Trump plans to attend oral arguments on birthright citizenship on Wednesday.

ACLU legal director Cecillia Wang will argue in the courtroom for the immigrant plaintiffs that brought suit challenging Trump.

 “If President Trump wishes to come to the Supreme Court to watch the ACLU school him in the meaning of the Constitution and birthright citizenship, we will be glad to sit alongside of him in that very court.

 “Any effort to distract from the gravity and importance of this case will not succeed. The Supreme Court is up to the task of interpreting and defending the Constitution even under the glare of a sitting president a couple dozen feet away from them.

 “This is one of the most important cases in the last hundred years. The outcome of this case will very well decide the rights and liberties of over 200,000 children born to immigrant parents each year. The 14th Amendment guarantees that children born in the United States are citizens. Period.”

Gene Hamilton, the President of America First Legal, broke down what could happen depending on how the Supreme Court handles Wednesday's birthright citizenship case.

Hamilton pointed to heavy potential consequences if the court upholds the practice in a robust manner, it could lead to an "explosion" of birth tourism.

"Foreign nationals already travel to the United States to secure citizenship for their children (at least until the Trump administration took steps to end the practice). A broad ruling would supercharge this practice in future administrations. Any pregnant woman who reaches American soil — on a tourist visa, by overstaying, or by crossing the border illegally — could guarantee her baby U.S. citizenship. American hospitals and taxpayers would bear the added costs," Hamilton wrote.

He went on to say there would be grave national security risks as well, with the U.S. presenting an even more enticing target for illegal immigration.

Constitutional attorney Mark Smith joined Fox News on Wednesday to discuss President Donald Trump's challenge to birthright citizenship at the Supreme Court, analyzing the 14th Amendment's "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" clause.

President Donald Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship for illegal aliens prompted a flurry of lawsuits in the days after its signing last year.

Critics argued that, among other things, the order violated the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to "all persons born … in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

ACLU legal director Cecillia Wang will argue against Trump's order before the court on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump's administration will be represented by Solicitor General John Sauer during oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Sauer urged the high court to take up the birthright citizenship case last October, arguing that a pair of lower court rulings were overly broad and relied on the "mistaken view" that "birth on U.S. territory confers citizenship on anyone subject to the regulatory reach of U.S. law."

"Those decisions confer, without lawful justification, the privilege of American citizenship on hundreds of thousands of unqualified people," he said at the time.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will weigh the legality of President Donald Trump's executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship in the U.S. — a landmark court fight that could profoundly impact the lives of millions of Americans and lawful U.S. residents.

At issue in the case, Trump v. Barbara, is an executive order Trump signed on his first day back in office. The order in question seeks to end automatic citizenship — or "birthright citizenship" — for nearly all persons born in the U.S. to undocumented parents, or to parents with temporary non-immigrant visas in the U.S.

The stakes in the case are high, putting on a collision course more than a century of executive branch action, Supreme Court precedent, and the text of the Constitution itself — or, more specifically, the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment. 

Trump administration officials view the order, and the high court's consideration of the case, as a key component of his hardline immigration agenda — an issue that has become a defining feature of his second White House term.

Opponents argue the effort is unconstitutional and unprecedented, and could impact an estimated 150,000 children born in the U.S. annually to non-citizens. 

A ruling in Trump's favor would represent a seismic shift for immigration policy in the U.S., and would upend long-held notions of citizenship that Trump and his allies argue are misguided. It would also yield immediate, operational consequences for infants born in the U.S., putting the impetus on Congress and the Trump administration to immediately act to clarify their status.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Breanne Deppisch.

President Donald Trump is set to attend the Supreme Court's oral arguments regarding his executive order banning birthright citizenship on Wednesday, according to the White House schedule.

His presence would be the first time a sitting president has ever personally attended oral arguments before the nation's highest court.

The order in question seeks to end automatic citizenship — or "birthright citizenship" — for nearly all persons born in the U.S. to undocumented parents, or to parents with temporary non-immigrant visas in the U.S.

The stakes in the case are high, putting on a collision course more than a century of executive branch action, Supreme Court precedent, and the text of the Constitution itself — or, more specifically, the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment. 

Trump administration officials view the order, and the high court's consideration of the case, as a key component of his hardline immigration agenda — an issue that has become a defining feature of his second White House term.

Fox News' Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.