President Donald Trump lashed out at the Supreme Court on Monday, calling federal judges “dumb” as a landmark birthright citizenship case prepares for oral arguments Wednesday.
Trump took to Truth Social to vent ahead of the high court’s review of his executive order ending automatic citizenship for children born on U.S. soil to parents who are in the country illegally. He pointed to the original intent of the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 at the close of the Civil War, saying the legislation was designed specifically to extend citizenship to formerly enslaved people, not to confer automatic citizenship on children of foreign nationals in the country without legal status.
“Birthright Citizenship is not about rich people from China, and the rest of the World, who want their children, and hundreds of thousands more, FOR PAY, to ridiculously become citizens of the United States of America,” Trump declared. “It is about the BABIES OF SLAVES! We are the only Country in the World that dignifies this subject with even discussion.”
“Look at the dates of this long ago legislation – THE EXACT END OF THE CIVIL WAR!” he added. “The World is getting rich selling citizenships to our Country, while at the same time laughing at how STUPID our U.S. Court System has become (TARIFFS!). “Dumb Judges and Justices will not a great Country make!”
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case after multiple federal district courts issued injunctions blocking the executive order. The administration argues courts have been overstepping by issuing nationwide blocks on presidential policies. That procedural question, about whether courts can issue such sweeping nationwide injunctions, is also expected to be a central issue in Wednesday’s arguments.
The case has major implications for immigration policy. An estimated 150,000 or more children are born in the United States each year to parents who entered the country illegally or are on temporary visas. Under the current interpretation of the 14th Amendment, those children are automatically considered U.S. citizens.
Trump has long argued that interpretation is incorrect and that birthright citizenship was never meant to apply to children of non-citizens. Critics, including most constitutional scholars, say the 14th Amendment’s plain language extends citizenship to all persons born on U.S. soil.
Wednesday’s oral arguments mark the first time the Supreme Court will directly weigh in on the birthright citizenship controversy.
