“This Supreme Court will find a way to come to the wrong conclusion,” Trump wrote in a social media post, citing concerns over Chinese birth tourism and the 14th Amendment. The executive order, issued on the first day of his second term in January 2025, directs federal agencies to recognize as citizens only those children born to parents “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States. If upheld, the policy would exclude children born to illegal immigrants from automatic citizenship.

Trump’s statement follows a recent 6-3 Supreme Court ruling that limited his authority to impose tariffs under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which he criticized as another example of the Court siding with the wrong parties. He specifically noted dissenting justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas as the “Great Three” in contrast to the majority.

The president highlighted that Chinese nationals born in the U.S. through birth tourism, estimated at 750,000 to 1.5 million over 15 years, have the right to vote and live freely in the United States. Trump argued that the 14th Amendment’s timing, passed immediately after the Civil War, proves its original intent was to grant citizenship to former slaves, not children of foreign nationals here illegally.

Legal challenges across the country have blocked the order’s implementation. Federal district courts in San Francisco, Boston, and Richmond issued injunctions, which were upheld by appellate courts, effectively preventing Trump’s policy from taking effect while the lawsuits continue. Legal scholars debate the meaning of the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” with some agreeing with Trump that it excludes children of noncitizens without lawful status.

Trump has repeatedly expressed his intention to change federal policy, telling NBC’s Meet the Press in December 2024 that the U.S. is “the only country” to automatically grant citizenship to children of illegal aliens. His administration maintains that his executive order is legally justified and consistent with the intended scope of the Fourteenth Amendment.