By Blessing Nweke

The Trump administration on Friday formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on whether the president’s executive order ending automatic birthright citizenship is constitutional, setting up what could become one of the most consequential immigration cases in decades.

The administration filed two appeals, one from Washington state and another from New Hampshire, urging the justices to resolve the question of whether the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, except children of foreign diplomats.

For more than a century, legal scholars and courts have widely interpreted the amendment as providing broad birthright citizenship. But Solicitor General D. John Sauer, in court filings, argued that this interpretation was a “mistaken view” that “became pervasive, with destructive consequences.” He maintained that the constitutional guarantee should not apply to children born to temporary visitors or those who entered the country illegally.

The filings mark a significant escalation beyond previous litigation, which dealt primarily with whether lower courts had the authority to block the executive order nationwide while lawsuits proceeded. These new cases are regular appeals, meaning the justices could take months to decide whether to hear them, with arguments potentially scheduled during the court’s term beginning in October and concluding in June 2026.

Your News reported that the appeals were obtained from the Washington state Attorney General’s Office and the ACLU, which represents plaintiffs in the New Hampshire case.

Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, criticized the move, saying, “The executive order is illegal, and no amount of maneuvering from the administration is going to change that.”

As of Friday evening, the Supreme Court had not yet officially docketed the cases.