Trump Takes Birthright Citizenship To Supreme Court: Here’s Where Trump And Musk Are Winning—And Losing—In Court
Key Facts
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to stop appeals court rulings that blocked Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship, which would deny U.S. citizenship to children born in the U.S. if their parents are undocumented or on temporary visas.
The administration asked the Supreme Court to block the nationwide orders issued by lower courts, so that the court orders would only apply in states covered by those courts.
If the court sides with the administration, Trump’s order would take effect and bar citizenship from anyone born to non-permanent residents in states that aren’t under the jurisdiction of those courts.
The request was the second notable legal move Thursday in the ongoing cases against the Trump administration, after Judge William Alsup ordered the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Energy, Treasury and Agriculture to reinstate probationary employees who were terminated as part of the Trump administration’s mass firings of federal workers, ruling during a hearing Thursday that the directive from the Office of Personnel Management to fire them was “unlawful.”
Plaintiffs, including Democratic attorneys general, federal workers, labor unions, nonprofits and other groups have brought dozens of lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s activities in the weeks since Trump’s inauguration, as Republicans’ control of the White House and Congress has made legal action Democrats’ primary way of challenging Trump’s policies.
Most of the lawsuits are still playing out in court, though a number of temporary rulings have been issued that either block policies while litigation moves forward, or allow various orders to stay in place until there’s a more lasting ruling.
Permanent rulings have only been issued so far in two cases—concerning two specific federal workers’ firings—but those rulings could also be overturned by higher courts on appeal.
That means all litigation is still subject to change: Judges who have ruled in the Trump administration’s favor so far could still issue future rulings that block their policies, and vice versa, and rulings both for and against the government are likely to be appealed to higher courts.
Where Has Trump Won In Court?
- USAID Staffers: Trump-appointed Judge Carl Nichols ruled Feb. 21 the Trump administration can place workers at USAID on leave, reversing a previous ruling he made against the government after the administration submitted a filing assuring workers on leave will continue to receive government protections. He then refused to issue an order blocking the Trump administration from terminating USAID contractors in a hearing March 6.
- Firing Hampton Dellinger: The D.C. appeals court on March 5 halted a lower court order preventing the Trump administration from terminating Dellinger, who has questioned Trump’s mass firings in his role atop the Office of Special Counsel, a watchdog agency. The ruling effectively allows Dellinger to be removed from his job while the case works its way through the appeal process, and Dellinger accepted the court’s ruling Thursday and said he would abide by it, suggesting he will not seek further appeals. Dellinger’s case was the first to make it to the Supreme Court, which temporarily kept him in his job last month, ruling 7-2 not to overrule a court order.
- NYC FEMA Funds: A federal judge denied New York City’s request to get back $80 million in FEMA funds the Trump administration rescinded even after they had already been disbursed, multiple outlets report, ruling during a hearing March 5 that there’s no immediate need to grant the city’s request now while the litigation is still playing out.
- CIA Employees: CIA Director John Ratcliffe can fire employees who served in roles related to diversity, equity and inclusion, Judge Anthony Trenga ruled at a hearing Thursday according to multiple reports, after the employees sued to block their firing—with The New York Times reporting the judge said he thinks based on “basic fairness” the employees shouldn’t have been dismissed, but Ratcliffe has authority to fire them under the law.
- Associated Press: Judge Trevor McFadden let the Trump administration keep blocking Associated Press reporters from major White House events—at least for now—denying a request by the AP to restore its journalists’ access after the Trump administration punished the news service for directing journalists to still use the term “Gulf of Mexico,” after Trump ordered the body of water to be renamed the “Gulf of America.”
- Elon Musk’s Authority: Judge Tanya Chutkan denied Democratic attorneys general’s efforts to block Musk and DOGE from accessing federal data or make personnel decisions—as the states argue Musk is an “agent of chaos” who doesn’t have the authority to make widespread government decisions—though Chutkan expressed concern in her Feb. 18 ruling about Musk’s authority and suggested she could rule against him in the future.
- DOGE Access to Labor Data: Judge John Bates twice denied labor unions’ request to block DOGE from accessing Labor Department data, at least while the litigation moves forward, first ruling the plaintiffs didn’t have standing, and then ruling Feb. 14 the plaintiffs did not sufficiently show their claims are likely to succeed—even as Bates acknowledged his “serious concerns about the privacy concerns raised by this case.”
- Federal Worker Buyouts: Judge George O’Toole let a deadline expire for federal workers to take a buyout offer, ruling Feb. 12 the labor unions challenging the buyout plan didn’t have standing to bring the case, after previously extending the deadline several times.
- Federal Employee Emails: Judge Randolph Daniel Moss denied an effort by federal workers to bar the government from sending mass emails to employees using an allegedly unsecured email server, finding on Feb. 17 the plaintiffs were unlikely to show they had standing to bring the case.
Where Has Trump Lost In Court?
- Birthright Citizenship: Trump’s Supreme Court request came after the Boston-based 1st Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Trump administration’s attempt to reinstate the executive order ending birthright citizenship on March 12, becoming the third federal appeals court that has ruled against the Trump administration on the issue. Four federal district judges blocked Trump's order rescinding birthright citizenship for children of non-citizens or non-permanent residents, with no judges so far ruling in Trump’s favor.
- Some Federal Worker Firings: Judge William Alsup reversed the Trump administration’s mass firings of probationary employees in a ruling March 13, ordering the government to rehire terminated employees at the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Energy, Treasury and Agriculture because he ruled the directive ordering the employees’ firing was unlawful. Alsup’s ruling came after Beryl Howell ruled Trump’s firing of National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox was a “blatant violation” of federal law in an order March 6, after Judge Rudolph Contreras, an Obama appointee, issued a permanent injunction keeping Cathy Harris, who serves on the Merit Systems Protection Board that protects federal workers, in her role after Trump terminated her. The judge ruled Trump’s firing violated federal law requiring officials to only be removed for “malfeasance.”
- Law Firm Access: Judge Beryl Howell on March 12 blocked aspects of an executive order that bars the federal government from doing business or sharing information with Perkins Coie, a high-profile law firm that previously represented Hillary Clinton, which the firm argued was unlawful retaliation for representing Trump’s political opponent and could lead to the firm going out of business.
- DOGE Records: Judge Christopher Cooper ordered DOGE to comply with a watchdog’s request for documents under the Freedom of Information Act, ruling March 10 the Musk-led group must comply with requests for documents regarding its financials, structure and communications with other agencies.
- Funding Freeze: Two federal judges blocked the Trump administration’s controversial directive to pause almost all federal grants, with Judge John McConnell doubling down on Feb. 10 and ordering the government to resume funding after organizations that brought the case claimed the Trump administration had not released funds as required. McConnell then issued a more lasting order on March 6 that keeps the block in place while the litigation plays out.
- National Institutes of Health Funding: On Feb. 10, Judge Angel Kelley blocked a change by the NIH to impose a blanket 15% reimbursement rate for some medical research costs—which have traditionally been negotiated on a case-by-case basis—after medical organizations and hospitals argued the change violated proper federal procedures. Kelley then extended that block March 5, meaning the Trump administration won’t be able to impose the 15% rate for the foreseeable future while the litigation plays out.
- Probationary Worker Firings: Judge William Alsup ordered the Office of Personnel Management on Feb. 27 to temporarily reverse a memo urging agencies like the the Department of Defense to fire scores of relatively new “probationary” workers. Alsup reportedly said in a hearing OPM’s moves—part of a wider gambit to slash the size of the federal workforce—were likely illegal, arguing the office “does not have any authority whatsoever, under any statute in the history of the universe, to hire and fire employees at another agency.” The Trump administration argues OPM didn’t order mass firings, and instead just asked agencies to review probationary staff.
- Refugee Admissions: Judge Jamal Whitehead blocked Trump’s executive order suspending refugee admissions following a hearing Feb. 25, in response to a lawsuit brought by refugee aid groups, with the judge ruling Trump’s order amounted to an “effective nullification of congressional will,” given the refugee program was established by Congress.
- DOGE Access To Student Loan Data: A federal judge in Maryland blocked the Department of Government Efficiency’s access to data at the Office of Personnel Management and Department of Education Feb. 24—including student loan data—while a lawsuit from the American Federation of Teachers and federal employees moves forward, even after a different district court denied a coalition of University of California students’ request to block DOGE’s access to student loan data.
- DOGE Access to Treasury Data: DOGE has been prohibited from accessing Treasury Department data while litigation moves forward, after Judge Jeanette Vargas blocked DOGE’s access to accessing Treasury data Feb. 21 in response to a lawsuit by Democratic attorneys general—coming after a different federal judge issued a more limited ruling granting read-only access to two specific DOGE staffers. A different federal judge denied a separate effort to block DOGE’s work at the agency on March 7, but that ruling does not affect the other ruling blocking DOGE from Treasury data.
- DEI: Responding to the Trump administration’s broad efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, federal judges have blocked the government’s efforts to withhold any “equity-related” federal grants and dismiss civil servants who hold DEI-related jobs at federal intelligence agencies, at least while the litigation proceeds.
- Transgender Rights: The Trump administration’s restrictions on transgender rights have so far been partially blocked in court, with multiple judges issuing rulings blocking the Trump administration from incarcerating transgender women inmates in male prisons, while other rulings have temporarily blocked the government’s restrictions on gender-affirming healthcare for minors. A federal judge ruled Feb. 28 the Trump administration cannot enforce restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors and federal funds being used “to promote gender ideology,” but only in the four states that brought the lawsuit (Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington).
- Health Websites: Bates ordered the Trump administration to restore health-related government websites that it had taken offline following Trump’s inauguration, in a ruling on Feb. 11, after Doctors for America argued the information being removed violated federal law and the loss of information harmed its membership.
How Has The Supreme Court Ruled?
- Foreign Aid: The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on March 5 to uphold Jude Amir Ali’s ruling requiring the Trump administration to disburse foreign aid funding for already-completed work, after Chief Justice John Roberts previously temporarily halted the ruling while the court deliberated. The ruling deals a blow to Trump’s push to slash the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh dissented from the ruling, with Alito writing he was “stunned” the court’s majority believed a “single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction [has] the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars.”
- Hampton Dellinger: Though a lower appeals court later allowed his firing, the Supreme Court temporarily kept him in his job in February, ruling 7-2 not to overrule a court order that barred the Trump administration from firing Dellinger until there was a further order from the court. NPR reports Dellinger ended his legal case following an appeals court ruling allowing him to be fired, rather than go back to the Supreme Court for a second time, saying March 6 he “strongly disagree[s] with the circuit court’s decision, but I accept and will abide by it.”
What Lawsuits Are Still Pending?
Immigration: Litigation is still pending on the suspension of funding for refugee resettlements, asylum restrictions, raids on sanctuary cities, pausing the humanitarian parole program, withholding funds from sanctuary cities, immigration officers entering houses of worship, restricting grants to immigration-related groups, the “expedited removal” of immigrants and the administration shutting down the CBP One app used by asylum seekers.
Federal Workers: The Trump administration’s and DOGE’s widespread cuts to the federal workforce have resulted in a number of lawsuits, including cases challenging the mass layoffs and Trump firing inspectors general. Former FEMA official Mary Comans sued March 4 against her firing, also taking aim at the Trump administration falsely claiming she illegally funded hotels for migrants. Multiple lawsuits also challenge Trump’s “Schedule F” order that makes it easier to fire career civil servants. A lawsuit challenging the DOJ’s targeting of officials involved with the Jan. 6 investigations is still pending, but the court has ordered the government not to disseminate any list of names of FBI officials involved with those investigations while the litigation is pending. Labor unions who were already suing the Trump administration over the mass firings of federal employees also filed an amended complaint Feb. 24 to add in a challenge to Musk’s email to federal workers directing them to respond with what they did over the past week or else be fired, with the unions arguing the Office of Personnel Management’s request for workers to respond to the email or face termination does not follow proper government procedures.
DOGE: Multiple lawsuits are still pending that challenge Trump’s authority in establishing DOGE altogether, and various groups are also seeking to block Musk and his associates’ access to data at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of Personnel Management, Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration. A wide-ranging lawsuit filed March 5 by advocacy groups broadly seeks to stop Musk’s alleged “lawless, unchecked evisceration of the federal government.”
Transgender Rights: Lawsuits are still pending challenging a number of the Trump administration’s restrictions on transgender Americans’ rights, including the ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports, the requirement that passports must reflect an individual’s biological sex and the reinstated ban on transgender Americans serving in the military.
Federal Funding: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, sued the Trump administration to reinstate lost funding, after the federal government’s funding freeze allegedly resulted in Pennsylvania losing funding even after courts ordered the funds to be sent out.
Climate Change: Environmental groups sued the Trump administration over the president’s order saying parts of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf can be used for oil and gas leasing—reversing an action by former President Joe Biden—with the plaintiffs arguing Trump exceeded his authority in doing so. Environmental and farming organizations also brought a lawsuit Feb. 24 against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, arguing they’ve been harmed by the government’s decision to delete information on climate change from government websites.
Congestion Pricing: New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority has asked a federal court to invalidate Trump’s order directing the city to cancel its congestion pricing, which charges vehicles a daily fee to drive in more crowded parts of Manhattan. The city argued that Trump cannot unilaterally cancel the program and it will not cease the program just because he said so, given that it’s a state program, but it still wants the court to declare Trump’s order “null and void.”
What Has The Trump Administration Said In Court?
The Trump administration has defended the administration’s policies in court even when they’ve broadly gone against the views of most legal experts, such as claiming the 14th Amendment does not guarantee birthright citizenship.The administration’s lawyers have particularly drawn scrutiny in the Democratic states’ lawsuit over Musk’s authority, which has led the government’s attorneys to downplay the billionaire’s influence, even as both Trump and Musk have credited the Tesla CEO with sweeping cuts. The Justice Department’s attorneys have also drawn scrutiny for being unable to tell judges the number of workers that have been fired and who in the government was serving as DOGE’s administrator, with a federal judge saying he was “highly suspicious” of the government’s inability to explain Musk’s exact role.
What Have Judges Said To Trump And His Lawyers?
Judges have often criticized the government’s policies or made plain they violate federal law, with Judge Lauren King arguing the executive order banning gender-affirming care for minors “promises serious harm to children” and is a “blunderbuss” in actually accomplishing the administration’s stated goal of protecting children. Judge John Coughenour, a Ronald Reagan appointee, wrote in his ruling blocking Trump’s birthright citizenship order that “The president cannot change, limit, or qualify this Constitutional right via an executive order.” Judges have also expressed concern even when they’ve ruled in the government’s favor, with Chutkan acknowledging in her ruling allowing DOGE’s activities to continue that Democratic-led states “legitimately call into question what appears to be the unchecked authority of an unelected individual,” referring to Musk.
Has Trump Been Following The Court’s Orders?
So far, yes. While legal experts raised alarm after Vice President JD Vance suggested in February that judges “aren’t allowed to control the executive's legitimate power,” there is so far no indication that the Trump administration has intentionally not complied with rulings against it, and the administration has taken pains in court filings to say it is following court orders.
Will More Cases Go To The Supreme Court?
Dellinger’s case and the USAID funding case are so far the only lawsuits since Trump’s inauguration that have made it to the Supreme Court, but given the high stakes of the policies now being challenged, more are likely to follow. It’s unclear how the 6-3 conservative court, which includes three Trump appointees, will ultimately rule on any challenges, though legal experts have suggested some of the administration’s moves may be too much for even the conservative-leaning court to get behind. Georgetown Law School professor Stephen Vladeck wrote he was skeptical the Supreme Court would back the administration’s memo halting federal funding, for instance, giving Trump “the right to refuse to spend any and all money Congress appropriates.”
What Other Lawsuits Could Still Be Brought?
Many of Trump’s policies still haven’t resulted in litigation, but could in the future. Among the policies that haven’t yet been challenged in court are him pulling out of the World Health Organization, imposing tariffs on China, removing safeguards around artificial intelligence, and rescinding Biden-era climate change initiatives, including ordering federal agencies not to disburse some funding that was approved by Congress.
Comments
Post a Comment