NEWS / US Supreme Court to examine birth certificates as proof of citizenship

The United States Supreme Court will review President Donald Trump’s January 2025 Executive Order barring automatic birthright citizenship to children born to parents present in the United States illegally or temporarily. The review is expected to take place during the Supreme Court’s 2025-2026 term. If the Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of President Trump’s Executive Order, a US birth certificate alone may no longer be sufficient to serve as proof as US citizenship.

While the Executive Order was issued by President Donald Trump on January 20, 2025, the day he was inaugurated, it was soon challenged in multiple lawsuits that resulted in preliminary injunctions from lower courts. The Executive Order would result in a revision of the long-standing practice of automatically granting United States citizenship to anybody born in the country, as recognized in the Supreme Courts 1898 ruling in United States v. Wong Kim Ark.

According to the Executive Order, individuals born in the United States would no longer acquire United States citizenship “when that person's mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person's birth” or “when that person's mother's presence in the United States at the time of said person's birth was lawful but temporary (such as, but not limited to, visiting the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program or visiting on a student, work, or tourist visa) and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person's birth.”

According to Ogletree Deakins, multiple lawsuits were filed to challenge the implementation of the new policy. Federal District Judges in the States of Washington and Maryland entered injunctions blocking enforcement, but in June, the Supreme Court issued a ruling (Trump v. CASA) curtailing the district courts’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions, thus resulting in the order being subject to injunctions only in certain parts of the country.

A New Hampshire district judge then issued a preliminary injunction preventing President Trump from enforcing the Executive Order against a certain class of babies born on or after February 20, 2025 (Barbara v. Trump). In State of Washington v. Trump, filed July 23, 2025, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held the Executive Order to be “invalid” due to it contradicting the “plain language” of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.

In September 2025, President Donald Trump challenged these injunctive rulings, with the Supreme Court deciding in December to review the Barbara v. Trump ruling. The case is expected to be argued in March-May 2026, with a definitive ruling expected to be issued by July 2026.

If you require assistance retrieving a birth certificate for use abroad, including getting it apostilled or authenticated, feel free to contact us via e-mail at info@apostille.us or by phone at (212) 233-7061. You may also wish to place an order on our website.