WASHINGTON β The Supreme Court agreed Friday to take up the constitutionality of President Donald Trump's order on birthright citizenship declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.
The justices will hear Trump's appeal of a lower-court ruling that struck down the citizenship restrictions. They have not taken effect anywhere in the country.
The case will be argued in the spring. A definitive ruling is expected by early summer.
The birthright citizenship order, which Trump signed Jan. 20, the first day of his second term, is part of his Republican administration's broad immigration crackdown. Other actions include immigration enforcement surges in several cities and the first peacetime invocation of the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act.
An American flag flies at half-staff Nov. 5 outside the Supreme Court in Washington.
The administration faces multiple court challenges, and the high court sent mixed signals in emergency orders it issued.
The justices effectively stopped the use of the Alien Enemies Act to rapidly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without court hearings. Yet, the Supreme Court allowed the resumption of sweeping immigration stops in the Los Angeles area after a lower court blocked the practice of stopping people solely based on their race, language, job or location.
The justices also are weighing the administration's emergency appeal to be allowed to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area for immigration enforcement actions. A lower court indefinitely prevented the deployment.
Birthright citizenship is the first Trump immigration-related policy to reach the court for a final ruling.
His order seeks to upend more than 125 years of understanding that the Constitution's 14th Amendment confers citizenship on everyone born on American soil, with narrow exceptions for the children of foreign diplomats and those born to a foreign occupying force.
In a series of decisions, lower courts struck down the executive order as unconstitutional, or likely so, even after a Supreme Court ruling in late June that limited judges' use of nationwide injunctions.
The Supreme Court, however, did not rule out other court orders that could have nationwide effects, including in class-action lawsuits and those brought by states. The justices did not decide at that time whether the underlying citizenship order was constitutional.
Every lower court that looked at the issue concluded that Trump's order violates or likely violates the 14th Amendment, which was intended to ensure that Black people, including former slaves, had citizenship.
Birthright citizenship automatically makes anyone born in the United States an American citizen, including children born to mothers who are in the country illegally, under longstanding rules.
The case under review comes from New Hampshire. A federal judge in July blocked the citizenship order in a class-action lawsuit including all children who would be affected.
The administration also asked the justices to review a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
That court, also in July, ruled that a group of Democratic-led states that sued over Trump's order needed a nationwide injunction to prevent the problems that would be caused by birthright citizenship being in effect in some states and not others. The justices took no action in the 9th Circuit case.
The administration asserts that children of noncitizens are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States and therefore not entitled to citizenship.
"The Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause was adopted to grant citizenship to newly freed slaves and their children β notΒ β¦ to the children of aliens illegally or temporarily in the United States," top administration top Supreme Court lawyer D. John Sauer wrote in urging the high court's review.
Twenty-four Republican-led states and 27 Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, back the administration.
Scenes from the immigration crackdown in New Orleans
A protester waves a flag in a pouring rain Dec. 1 during a demonstration against an impending Customs and Border Patrol immigration crackdown in New Orleans.
U.S. Border Patrol commander at large Gregory Bovino, center, walks Dec. 3 on a street in New Orleans, La.
U.S. Border Patrol agents arriveΒ Dec. 3 at a Home Depot in Kenner, La.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent questions a person Dec. 3 at a Home Depot parking lot in Kenner, La.
U.S. Border Patrol commander at large Gregory Bovino walks to his vehicle Dec. 3 at a Home Depot in Kenner, La.
Protesters participate in an anti-ICE demonstration during a Dec. 4 meeting at City Hall in New Orleans.
Protesters participate in an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement demonstration during a Dec. 4 meeting at City Hall in New Orleans.
Protesters participate in an anti-ICE demonstration during a Dec. 4 meeting at City Hall in New Orleans.
Protesters participate in an anti-ICE demonstration Dec. 4 during a meeting at City Hall in New Orleans.
Protesters participate in an anti-ICE demonstration during a Dec. 4 meeting at City Hall in New Orleans.
U.S. Border Patrol commander at large Gregory Bovino, third from left, walks on a streetΒ Dec. 3 in New Orleans, La.
U.S. Border Patrol agents stand on a street Dec. 3 in New Orleans.
U.S. Border Patrol commander at large Gregory Bovino selects items Dec. 3 inside a gas and convenience store in Kenner, La.
U.S. Border Patrol commander at large Gregory Bovino prepares to purchase items Dec. 3 inside a gas and convenience store in Kenner, La.
U.S. Border Patrol commander at large Gregory Bovino talks to the mediaΒ Dec. 3 in Kenner, La.
U.S. Border Patrol Commander at large Gregory Bovino, fourth from left, walks on a streetΒ Dec. 3 in New Orleans, La.
