March 31, 2026 / 11:12 PM EDT / CBS News
President Trump plans to visit the Supreme Court on Wednesday as the justices hear arguments in Trump v. Barbara, the case testing his executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship. The White House schedule lists him as attending oral arguments at 10 a.m., which, unless he cancels, would make him the first sitting president on record to personally observe arguments at the high court.
Mr. Trump hinted to reporters that he intended to attend. He has suggested attending arguments before — notably when the court considered his global tariffs — but ultimately did not go, saying he did not want to “distract” from that decision.
Attendance Wednesday would underscore how central the issue is to his agenda. Hours after returning to office last year, Mr. Trump signed an executive order seeking to bar children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants or people in the country temporarily from automatically receiving American citizenship. The order has been blocked from taking effect by numerous legal challenges.
Opponents contend the order violates the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” That clause has long been interpreted to confer citizenship to nearly everyone born on U.S. soil, with limited exceptions regardless of parents’ immigration status. Trump administration officials argue the post–Civil War amendment has been misread and say it was intended to grant citizenship to former slaves and their descendants, not to children of temporary or undocumented immigrants.
The Supreme Court first addressed related litigation last year, but that decision focused on whether judges’ injunctions blocking the policy were too broad rather than on the policy’s merits. The court now will confront the executive order’s constitutionality directly; a ruling could arrive by July.
The high court has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three Trump nominees, but justices have sometimes ruled against the administration. Last month the court struck down many of Mr. Trump’s tariffs, prompting sharp criticism from the president. On Truth Social, he predicted the Supreme Court “will find a way to come to the wrong conclusion” in the birthright citizenship case as well.