Trump Officials Cite Racist Arguments in Bid to End Birthright Citizenship

The administration's case to the Supreme Court revives long-discredited ideas from the post-Civil War era.

Mar. 30, 2026 at 2:35pm

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A dimly lit, cinematic interior of a government building or courthouse, with warm light streaming in through tall windows and casting deep shadows across the empty space, conveying a sense of solemnity and gravity around the high-stakes legal battle over citizenship rights.The Supreme Court's ruling on birthright citizenship could have far-reaching consequences for the nation's identity and security.Washington Today

The Trump administration is relying on arguments made by a trio of thinkers in the late 1800s who pushed to end birthright citizenship in the U.S., a campaign that scholars say was steeped in anti-Black and anti-Chinese racism. The administration is citing the work of these figures, including a Confederate officer, as it makes its case before the Supreme Court to upend the long-settled law that grants citizenship to virtually everyone born in the United States.

Why it matters

The case could redefine who is considered an American, with the potential to render hundreds of thousands of children born to immigrant parents stateless. The 14th Amendment was ratified after the Civil War to ensure the formerly enslaved and their children could become citizens, overturning a previous Supreme Court decision that denied citizenship to Black people.

The details

The Trump administration is citing arguments made by Alexander Porter Morse, a Confederate officer and Louisiana attorney who advocated for legalized segregation, as well as Francis Wharton, a prominent legal scholar who argued the 14th Amendment should not grant citizenship to children of Chinese immigrants. They were part of a failed 19th-century effort to erase birthright citizenship that was steeped in racism. The administration's brief echoes their ideas, such as arguing a child's citizenship should depend on the parents' nationality, not birthplace.

  • In 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order instructing government agencies to stop issuing citizenship documentation to children if neither parent is a U.S. citizen or the mother is on a 'lawful but temporary' visa.
  • On June 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of the Trump administration, limiting the ability of lower courts to issue nationwide injunctions against the birthright citizenship order.
  • In the summer of 2026, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the substance of the birthright citizenship case.

The players

Alexander Porter Morse

A Confederate officer during the Civil War and a Louisiana attorney who advocated for legalized segregation and was part of a failed 19th-century effort to erase birthright citizenship that was steeped in racism.

Francis Wharton

A prominent legal scholar in the late 1800s and State Department official who attempted to formulate a legal rationale that would allow children born to European immigrants to gain citizenship but deny it to those of Chinese migrants, arguing the Chinese were insufficiently 'civilized' and could never obtain the proper status.

George D. Collins

A San Francisco attorney who pushed the Justice Department to take up a test case challenging birthright citizenship, arguing Chinese immigrants were 'utterly unfit, wholly incompetent' to be American citizens.

D. John Sauer

The Solicitor General who argues in the petition to the Supreme Court that the Citizenship Clause applied to the recently enslaved and their children, not children of temporary visitors or those here illegally.

Hannah Liu

A 26-year-old from Washington who held up a sign in support of birthright citizenship outside the Supreme Court in 2025.

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What they’re saying

“If you know the history and the broader context of what they were trying to achieve, it does ring alarm bells.”

— Lucy Salyer, University of New Hampshire history professor

“The Supreme Court has the opportunity to review the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause and restore the meaning of citizenship in the United States to its original public meaning. This case will have enormous consequences for the security of all Americans.”

— Abigail Jackson, White House spokeswoman

“If you strip that out of the government's brief, it looks really weak.”

— Sam Erman, Law professor at the University of Michigan

What’s next

A decision from the Supreme Court on the birthright citizenship case is expected by the summer of 2026.

The takeaway

The Trump administration's reliance on racist arguments from the post-Civil War era to challenge birthright citizenship highlights the troubling history behind this legal battle, which could have profound consequences for hundreds of thousands of children born to immigrant parents.