Birthright citizenship, conversion therapy ban, trans sports: 5 Supreme Court decisions to watch in 2026
1. Birthright citizenship
In the case of Trump v. Barbara, the Supreme Court will determine if President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship violates the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In January of last year, Trump issued an executive order removing automatic citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants in the U.S., with the order slated to take effect on Feb. 20.
"The Fourteenth Amendment has always excluded from birthright citizenship persons who were born in the United States but not 'subject to the jurisdiction thereof,'" Trump's order states.
The order was the subject of multiple lawsuits, including one filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other progressive advocacy organizations.
After multiple courts issued nationwide injunctions against the executive order, the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court to limit the scope of the district court blocks.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments in Barbara in December, a New Hampshire-based district court having blocked the executive order in that case.
In 1898, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-2 in the case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark that an individual born in California was indeed a citizen of the United States, even though his parents were Chinese nationals.
