Q&A – SCOTUS & President Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Challenge - Driven By Braman Motorcars
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
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Today’s Entry: @brianmuddradio With SCOTUS set to take up birthright citizenship case – how likely do you think they are to side with him?
Bottom Line: We’ll have plenty of time to review several angels to the birthright citizenship challenge because the Supreme Court isn’t set to hear arguments in that case until May 15th, with a ruling that won’t likely come until the end of June. In January, at the time of the executive order was signed, I argued that despite the predictable backlash by the Left, and the judge who immediately stayed the order, I liked the chances of the order succeeding due to these critically important facts...
If the argument were blatantly unconstitutional, that would imply that every person born on U.S. soil would be an American citizen, period – end of story...,would it not? And yet that’s not at all the case. There are four existing exceptions to birthright citizenship that have been recognized by the United States Supreme Court:
- Children born to foreign diplomats
- Children born in outlying possessions such as American Samoa and Swains Island
- Children born to enemy invaders
- Children born to tribal families that owe direct allegiance to their tribe
Therefore, I’d argue, and the Trump team going forward should, if they hope to win on this issue, that with four existing exceptions – all of which have to do with a parent’s foreign status or heritage/allegiance - it’s completely consistent to say that if neither a father or mother retains legal status in this country – their primary allegiance is to the country in which they are citizens.
Now, with that said, I liked the way today’s question was positioned for an instructive reason. Perception vs. reality. Question for you. How often you think the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Donald Trump (both as a president and as a private citizen)? The answer is six. Surprised? How often do you think the Supreme Court has ruled against Donald Trump? The answer is four. Are you surprised about that one? There also are two cases that have produced mixed outcomes for Trump. I suspect that most people would have thought that the Supreme Court had handled more cases involving Trump than this. The cases that they’ve ruled in favor of Trump’s position are these:
- Trump v. United States (2024) (presidential immunity)
- Alien Enemies Act Case (April 2025)
- Probationary Federal Workers Case (April 2025)
- Federal Grants Suspension Case (April 2025)
- Department of Commerce v. New York (2019) (executive authority case – Census procedures)
- Trump v. Hawaii (2018) (travel ban case)
Cases President Trump has lost with the high court are these:
- Dellinger v. Bessent (2025) (Firing of the head of the Office of Special Council)
- Foreign Aid Freeze Case (March 2025)
- Abrego Garcia Case (April 2025)
- Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) (gender ID discrimination case)
The Court leans toward supporting Trump’s executive authority, especially on national security and personnel decisions, but checks him when orders run contrary to established law. In other words, the court isn’t inclined to allow President Trump’s executive orders to effectively overturn laws that had previously been passed. That dynamic potentially sets up well given what I’d mentioned about birthright citizenship. To be continued...