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Chapter 1: What are the implications of the Supreme Court's arguments on birthright citizenship?
The Supreme Court hears arguments on birthright citizenship. The outcome could redetermine who gets to be an American.
You have people who have been relying on this automatic birthright citizenship for over a century. And so I think that there's always concern about how whatever they decide will play out in the real world.
Plus, SpaceX files for what could be the biggest IPO in history. And NASA's planning to go where no one has gone before, or at least not since 1972. It's Wednesday, April 1st. I'm Alex Osola for The Wall Street Journal. This is the p.m. edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.
The Supreme Court heard arguments today on possible limits to birthright citizenship in the U.S. As expected, President Trump sat in on part of the hearing, the first known example of a sitting president to attend arguments before the Supreme Court.
On the first day of his second term, Trump signed an executive order that would end automatic birthright citizenship for babies born to unauthorized immigrants or people living here temporarily. At least six courts have already said the order violates the 14th Amendment. WSJ Legal Affairs reporter Lydia Wheeler joins me now from Washington.
Lydia, what was the Trump administration's argument here?
So the Trump administration is arguing that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment was adopted to confer citizenship on newly freed slaves and their children, not on the children of immigrants in the country temporarily or illegally. And so what they're really focused on is that the Citizenship Clause says all persons born or naturalized in the
And, this is the key words, subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens. And the government argues that it's those words, in the jurisdiction thereof, that creates this condition that requires a child's parents to be citizens of the United States or permanent residents, both under the Constitution and federal law.
How did the justices seem to respond to those arguments?
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Chapter 2: Why is SpaceX's IPO filing considered a significant event?
And even Justice Samuel Alito at one point was like, isn't this a humanitarian problem? You know, he said that Normally, when you think about someone who is subject to an arrest, potentially because they're here illegally, that they wouldn't say that they are domiciled or have a permanent residence in the U.S.
But because of our ineffective immigration laws, he said, people have come to think of themselves as being permanent residents.
There are people who are subject to removal at any time if they are apprehended and they go through the proper procedures. But they have... in their minds, made a permanent home here and have established roots. And that raises a humanitarian problem.
So it seemed like right from the start that the government was having a hard time. But then there was this notable shift kind of halfway through the arguments where it really started to seem like maybe some of the court's conservative majority was actually in favor of the president's arguments here.
I think that there's always concern about how whatever they decide will play out in the real world.
So you walked through the Trump administration's arguments. And what is the other side arguing?
Right. So civil rights attorneys representing the individuals in this class action are challenging the order. And they say that the Trump administration is trying to radically reinterpret what has been a pervasive understanding of the Constitution, as well as the court's own precedent and federal law for well over a century.
And they say that it's trying to erroneously add this domicile requirement for U.S. born children with foreign national parents.
OK, guess we'll have to wait and see. That was WSJ Legal Affairs reporter Lydia Wheeler. Thanks, Lydia. Thanks so much for having me. A decision is expected by the end of June. In his first comments after the arguments, President Trump posted on social media that the U.S. was, quote, stupid for allowing birthright citizenship.
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