WASHINGTON – After a big loss at the Supreme Court on tariffs, President Donald Trump pressed the high court to avoid making the "wrong" decision on a pending case in which his administration has argued that not everyone born in the United States should automatically become a citizen.
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution grants birthright citizenship to people born in the United States and has been interpreted for more than 100 years as basically applying to anyone other than the children of diplomats.
But Trump argued the provision was meant to cover the children of former slaves, not the children of people in the country temporarily under visas or immigrants without legal authorization to be in the country. The justices scheduled arguments in the case for April 1.
“This supreme court will find a way to come to the wrong conclusion, one that again will make China, and various other Nations, happy and rich,” Trump said.
Trump’s broadside went beyond criticizing a past decision, as he shifted gears and lobbied for a future decision. His argument against birthright citizenship came in the same social media post that blasted the Supreme Court for an unrelated decision Feb. 20 overturning his emergency tariffs. Both subjects are his top domestic priorities for the economy and immigration.
