On Thursday, the United States (US) Supreme Court announced it will hear arguments over President Donald Trump’s move to end birthright citizenship on May 15.
President Trump had issued an executive order on his first day in office seeking to limit birthright citizenship for children whose parents are in the US illegally or on temporary visas.
Following the executive order the appellate courts blocked his order which made him to appealed the case to the Supreme Court on March 13.
The halt on Trump’s birthright citizenship order is just one of the many judicial setbacks his administration has faced as it rushes through contentious immigration and other reforms.
Adverse court rulings have prompted the administration to rail against what it calls activist judges, with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voting through a bill last week to limit federal judges’ power to issue nationwide injunctions although the text has next to no chance of passing the Senate.
Birthright citizenship is enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which decrees that anyone born on American soil is a citizen.
It was one of several amendments enacted in the wake of the Civil War to guarantee rights to formerly enslaved people.
