President Donald Trump predicted Monday that the U.S. Supreme Court likely will not rule in his favor on an executive order that directs federal agencies to only recognize babies born to people in the country legally as American citizens.
“[T]his supreme court will find a way to come to the wrong conclusion,” Trump declared in a social media post.
Trump’s prediction came after a 6-3 ruling Friday by the high court that found he did not have the authority to impose tariffs using a 1977 law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority, joined by conservative Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch, as well as the liberals on the bench: Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas dissented.
On Monday, Trump posted on Truth Social regarding the tariffs decision, “The supreme court (will be using lower case letters for a while based on a complete lack of respect!) of the United States accidentally and unwittingly gave me, as President of the United States, far more powers and strength than I had prior to their ridiculous, dumb, and very internationally divisive ruling.”
“The court has … approved all other Tariffs, of which there are many, and they can all be used in a much more powerful and obnoxious way, with legal certainty, than the Tariffs as initially used. Our incompetent supreme court did a great job for the wrong people, and for that they should be ashamed of themselves (but not the Great Three!),” the president added, referring to Kavanaugh, Alito, and Thomas.
Donald J. Trump Truth Social Post 07:06 AM EST 02.23.26 pic.twitter.com/xdHMVnD9iJ
— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) February 23, 2026
Trump continued, “The next thing you know they will rule in favor of China and others, who are making an absolute fortune on Birthright Citizenship, by saying the 14th Amendment was NOT written to take care of the ‘babies of slaves,’ which it was as proven by the EXACT TIMING of its construction, filing, and ratification, which perfectly coincided with the END OF THE CIVIL WAR.”
“How much better can you do than that? But this supreme court will find a way to come to the wrong conclusion, one that again will make China, and various other Nations, happy and rich,” he wrote.
Chinese birth tourism has flourished for the past 15 years, resulting in “at least 750,000 and possibly as many as 1.5 million Chinese, who are also American citizens by virtue of being born here, are now growing toward adulthood in China,” Peter Schweizer wrote in a piece for the New York Post last month.
These Chinese nationals are “entitled to vote in any U.S. election of their choosing and move freely within our borders,” Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio wrote in a brief to the Supreme Court in the case.
The day he took office in January 2025, Trump issued an executive order designating that only those born to parents “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States are citizens, quoting from the Fourteenth Amendment.
The impact would be that when children are born to people who are not legal residents, the children are not U.S. citizens.
Several lawsuits were filed around the country seeking to block the implementation of Trump’s order. Federal district courts issued injunctions putting it on hold, and then federal appeals courts in San Francisco, Boston, and Richmond, Virginia, upheld their decisions.
Trump elaborated on his understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment during an interview with NBC “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker in December 2024, shortly before taking office for his second term.
Welker asked Trump, “The Fourteenth Amendment, though, says that ‘All persons born in the United States are citizens.’ Can you get around the Fourteenth Amendment with an executive action?”
Currently, when illegal aliens have children in the country, federal policy has been to recognize them as U.S. citizens.
“Well, we’re going to have to get a change,” Trump answered Welker. “We’re the only country that has it.”
President Trump says it’s still his plan to END birthright citizenship: “We’re the only country that has it!” pic.twitter.com/iOdkKQ2gnZ
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) December 8, 2024
A key clause that Welker left out of the Fourteenth Amendment reads, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Some legal scholars have argued that the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” means the Fourteenth Amendment only grants citizenship to babies born to citizens and lawful, permanent U.S. residents, i.e., green card holders.
That is the position the Trump administration has taken.
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