Daily News Article - December 9, 2025
NOTE TO STUDENTS: Before answering the questions, read the “Background” below and watch the videos under “Resources.”
1. What is the text of the "birthright citizenship" clause of the 14th Amendment?
2. What did President Trump's Jan. 20 executive order on birthright citizenship do?
3. a) Instead of addressing birthright citizenship specifically, what issue did the Trump administration ask the justices to consider last term (which they heard in the Spring)?
b) How did the court rule on that in June?
4. In September, after Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship was blocked by several lower courts across the country, the administration asked the Supreme Court to take up the case. What arguments did Solicitor General John Sauer make in the petition to the Supreme Court?
5. a) What argument do opponents use in the case?
b) How did Solicitor General Sauer refute this argument?
6. Each year, approximately 250,000 to 290,000 babies are born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrant parents - representing about 7-8% of all U.S. births - and automatically become U.S. citizens under the 14th Amendment's principle of birthright citizenship, according to data from Pew Research Center and university studies.
Read President Trump's Executive Order on Birthright Citizenship "Protecting The Meaning And Value Of American Citizenship" - Jan. 20, 2025
Do you think he makes a reasonable argument in "Protecting The Meaning And Value Of American Citizenship" for the intention of the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment? Explain your answer.