U.S. Supreme Court could block Trump's birthright citizenship order but limit nationwide injunctions

The U.S. Supreme Court seemed intent on Thursday (May 15, 2025) on maintaining a block on President Donald Trump's restrictions on birthright citizenship while looking for a way to scale back nationwide court orders.It was unclear what such a decision might look like, but a majority of the court expressed concerns about would happen if the Trump administration were allowed, even temporarily, to deny citizenship to children born to people who are in the United States illegally.

- GNS News Agency

The justices heard arguments in the Trump administration’s emergency appeals over lower court orders that have kept the citizenship restrictions on hold across the country.Nationwide injunctions have emerged as an important check on Mr. Trump's efforts to remake the government and a source of mounting frustration to the Republican president and his allies.

Judges have issued 40 nationwide injunctions since Mr. Trump began his second term in January, Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court at the start of more than two hours of arguments. Birthright citizenship is among several issues, many related to immigration, that the administration has asked the court to address on an emergency basis.The justices also are considering the Trump administration's pleas to end humanitarian parole for more than 500,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela and to strip other temporary legal protections from another 350,000 Venezuelans. The administration remains locked in legal battles over its efforts to swiftly deport people accused of being gang members to a prison in El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act.Mr. Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term that would deny citizenship to children who are born to people who are in the country illegally or temporarily.