The Supreme Court is currently reviewing an executive order issued by President Trump in January 2025 that seeks to deny birthright citizenship to children born in the United States to undocumented or temporarily present parents. The order challenges the interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which states: "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." A lower court previously blocked this executive order.

The executive order stated that "the Fourteenth Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States." The order would deny citizenship to the majority of children born to parents in the United States illegally or temporarily.

Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia, stated that the 14th Amendment means everyone born in the United States is automatically a U.S. citizen at birth, regardless of parentage or lineage. Frost noted that narrow exceptions apply to the children of diplomats and invading occupying armies. "Everyone else is a citizen at birth," Frost said. She added there is no ambiguity about the Constitutional issue of the citizenship clause in the 14th Amendment.

Rogers Smith, a political scientist, stated that the citizenship clause in the 14th Amendment is terse and did not address several issues directly. Smith noted that the status of children of unauthorized aliens was an issue not addressed by supporters or opponents of the 14th Amendment at the time of its writing and ratification. The Trump administration has cited Smith's scholarship in its case regarding birthright citizenship.

Smith said, "I think that it has been a mistake for more than a half-century for Congress – and often advocates for various causes – to try to push these decisions onto the courts." He also stated that "Congress is not playing anywhere close to the role that it is supposed to be playing in the American constitutional system." Frost maintained that "Immigration is a complicated global issue with no easy answers. One clear non-answer is to get rid of birthright citizenship in this country."