President Donald Trump said he plans to attend Wednesday’s Supreme Court hearing on birthright citizenship, a move that would make him the first sitting president to attend the high court’s oral arguments.
The court will hear arguments over the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship, which has been challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups. The White House appealed a lower-court ruling that struck down Trump’s restrictions.
Asked by a reporter about the case on Tuesday, Trump said, “I’m going,” before hedging slightly: “I think so, I do believe.”
Trump’s official schedule for Wednesday shows part of the morning blocked out for the Supreme Court oral arguments. He is also due to address the nation at 9 p.m. for an “important update” on Iran, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
In response to a question Wednesday morning about Trump’s plans, the White House referred to the official schedule and his previous comments. The Supreme Court did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
There is no record of a sitting president attending the nation’s highest court for oral arguments, though Trump has floated the idea before.
In November, the court heard lengthy arguments about whether Trump had the legal authority to impose sweeping tariffs in a test of his major economic policy. After suggesting he might attend, Trump reversed course, saying, “I do not want to distract from the importance of this Decision,” in a post on Truth Social.
The court ended up ruling against him 6-3, saying that he could not use emergency powers to impose import levies on goods from nearly all U.S. trading partners. Trump railed against the decision, branding the justices in the majority a “disgrace” and calling the decision “an embarrassment to their families.”
The birthright citizenship case could have major ramifications for who is considered American. Trump’s executive order would deny citizenship to any child born to parents who lacked permanent immigration status and was one of the first acts of his second term.
The administration has argued that the 14th Amendment, which grants birthright citizenship, does not apply to people in the country illegally or on temporary visas, although many legal scholars disagree. If the high court reverses the long-held interpretation, it could render hundreds of thousands of children born to immigrant parents stateless.
A ruling is expected by the summer.
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