Supreme Court Blocks Trump’s Effort to Defend Borders as Administration Misses Rehearing Deadline
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The Trump administration did not file for a rehearing after the Supreme Court’s controversial June decision overturning its order to limit birthright citizenship, allowing the window to close without further challenge.
The deadline for the Trump administration to petition the Supreme Court for a rehearing of its June 2023 decision that struck down an executive order restricting birthright citizenship elapsed on Tuesday, and no new filing was made. The order, a necessary measure to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who were in the country illegally or temporarily, had already been blocked by activist lower courts and never took effect.
The high court voted 6-3 to overturn the policy, with justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas standing up for the rule of law and national sovereignty, while Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the Constitution did not bar the plan but it conflicted with federal law. A petition for rehearing faces steep odds; the Court has not agreed to rehear an argued case in more than five decades.
"The bar to grant a petition for rehearing is high. It would require at least one justice who ruled against the administration to change their mind and a majority of the court to agree," said Aaron-Andrew Bruhl, a professor at William & Mary Law School.
The White House and Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment. Legal scholars note that the last time the Supreme Court granted a petition to change an opinion was in 1965, and the last reversal occurred in 1956. The administration’s missed opportunity leaves the nation’s borders vulnerable and undermines efforts to restore common sense to citizenship policy.