Birthright citizenship live updates: Supreme Court to rule on Trump’s order

apnews.com

The Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Monday, May 18, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Updated 7:42 AM EDT, June 30, 2026

What to know:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday will rule on the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s order on birthright citizenship declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens. The decision comes on the final day of a Supreme Court term that has centered on Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power — and largely ruled in his favor.
The court on Monday handed Trump a major win by upholding his firings of independent federal agency heads at will, with the exception of Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, who will retain her job while she fights the president’s effort to fire her over allegations of mortgage fraud.
In cases from West Virginia and Idaho, the court will decide whether to uphold laws in roughly half the states that prohibit transgender girls and women from playing on their public school and college sports. Also remaining is a case on the limits of political party spending in support of candidates for Congress and the president.

Major Supreme Court cases in the 2025-26 term

The court will also rule on trans athletes and campaign finances

FILE - Protesters wave transgender pride flags outside the Supreme Court as it hears arguments over state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

In separate cases, the court will also decide:

Whether states can prohibit transgender athletes from playing on girls’ and women’s public school and college teams.
Whether to uphold a federal law more than 50 years old limiting how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and the president.

The court seemed poised to reject Trump’s birthright citizenship limits during arguments in April

Oral arguments for the case lasted more than two hours in a crowded courtroom that included Trump, the first sitting president to attend arguments at the nation’s highest court, and, in seats reserved for the justices’ guests, actor Robert De Niro.

Trump heard his administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, face one skeptical question after another. Justices asked about the legal basis for the order and voiced more practical concerns.

This courtroom sketch depicts the Republican administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, standing center, make arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. President Donald Trump is seated right. (Dana Verkouteren via AP)

“Is this happening in the delivery room?” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked, drilling down into the logistics of how the government would actually figure out who is entitled to citizenship and who is not.

Chief Justice John Roberts suggested that Sauer was relying on quirky exceptions to citizenship to make a broad argument about people who are in the country illegally. “I’m not quite sure how you can get to that big group from such tiny and sort of idiosyncratic examples,” Roberts said.

Justice Clarence Thomas sounded the most likely among the nine justices to side with Trump.