WASHINGTON − Who is an American?
That’s the fundamental question the Supreme Court will take up on April 1 when it debates President Donald Trump’s ability to sharply restrict which children born in the United States are automatically citizens.
The court’s ruling is likely to land shortly before the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, adding to the significance of a case that was already a blockbuster.
It’s another opportunity for the Supreme Court to weigh in on the expansive authority Trump has claimed since returning to the White House last year.
Can he change the definition of birthright citizenship with a stroke of his pen? “What the president’s executive order attempts to do is to rewrite citizenship as we have known it since the late 19th century,” said César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, an expert on immigration law at Ohio State University College of Law.
