United States (US) President Donald Trump has disclosed the possibility of Wednesday’s Supreme Court hearing on birthright citizenship, making him the first incumbent president to sit in for oral arguments at the nation’s highest court.
“I’m going,” Trump told Fox News on Tuesday, before adding a bit more tentatively, “I think so. I do believe.”
According to historians, the presence of a sitting president at the high court during oral arguments would be a first.
A White House spokesperson pointed to Trump’s comments to journalists when asked about his plans, while a Supreme Court spokesperson hasn’t responded to requests for comment.
Speaking to Fox News’ Peter Doocy in the Oval Office, Trump repeated his argument that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment was only intended to give citizenship to the children of former slaves and was not intended to apply to virtually anyone born on U.S. soil. The majority of constitutional scholars and legal precedents reject his view.
“Everything having to do with birthright citizenship, it was at the end of the Civil War.”
“The reason was it had to do with the babies of slaves and the protection of the babies of slaves.
It didn’t have to do with the protection of multi-millionaires and billionaires wanting to have their children get an American citizenship,” Trump said.
Tribune Online reports that on his first day back in office last year, Trump signed an executive order that sought to deny federal benefits such as passports to children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants and those on limited-duration visas.
He argued that the prospect of automatic U.S. citizenship encourages illegal immigration and so-called birth tourism, where families arrange to have their children while visiting the U.S.
According to Politico News, Trump’s order was blocked by a series of judges, who ruled that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to almost everyone born in the US, regardless of their parents’ status, adding that the justices are set to hear arguments on Wednesday on the Trump administration’s bid to overturn the lower court rulings and let Trump’s order take effect.
(Politico)
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