US Supreme Court grapples with Trump bid to restrict birthright citizenship

US Supreme Court grapples with Trump bid to restrict birthright citizenship
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People protest in support of birthright citizenship and the immigrant community on May 15, 2025, outside of the Supreme Court in Washington. (AP Photo)
US Supreme Court grapples with Trump bid to restrict birthright citizenship
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Updated 15 May 2025
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US Supreme Court grapples with Trump bid to restrict birthright citizenship

US Supreme Court grapples with Trump bid to restrict birthright citizenship
  • Trump order targeted children of certain immigrants
  • Three judges issued orders blocking policy nationwide

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court wrestled on Thursday over Donald Trump’s attempt to broadly enforce his executive order to restrict birthright citizenship, a move that would affect thousands of babies born each year as the Republican president seeks a major shift in how the US Constitution has long been understood. The court’s conservative justices, who hold a 6-3 majority, seemed willing to limit the ability of lower courts to issue nationwide, or “universal,” injunctions, as federal judges in Maryland, Washington and Massachusetts did to block Trump’s directive. None of the justices, however, signaled an endorsement of Trump’s order and some of the liberals said it violates the Constitution and the court’s own precedents.
The justices heard more than two hours of arguments in the administration’s emergency request to scale back the injunctions blocking Trump’s directive, which is a key part of his hard-line approach toward immigration. Three judges found that Trump’s order likely violates the Constitution’s 14th Amendment citizenship language. Trump signed his order on January 20, his first day back in office. It directed federal agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of US-born children who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or lawful permanent resident, also known as a “green card” holder.
Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor said she believes Trump’s order violates multiple Supreme Court precedents concerning citizenship. Sotomayor said the court should weigh the order’s legality “if we are worried about those thousands of children who are going to be born without citizenship papers that could render them stateless” and leave them ineligible for government benefits.
More than 150,000 newborns would be denied citizenship annually if Trump’s order takes effect, according to the plaintiffs who challenged the directive, including the Democratic attorneys general of 22 states as well as immigrant rights advocates and pregnant immigrants.
The case is unusual in that the administration has used it to argue that federal judges lack the authority to issue universal injunctions, and has asked the justices to rule that way and enforce Trump’s directive even without weighing its legal merits. Sauer focused on this issue, calling the increasing use by judges of universal injunctions a “pathology.”
In potentially restricting the ability of lower courts to issue universal injunctions in certain instances, the conservative justices raised the idea of requiring plaintiffs to funnel claims seeking broader relief into class-action lawsuits, which are filed on behalf of a group of people who suffer similar legal injuries.
Some of the conservatives also signaled that at least for the states that sued, relief might properly extend beyond their borders, as a universal injunction does.
Complicating matters, some justices — conservatives and liberals alike — also seemed reticent to rule without further delving into the underlying legal merits of Trump’s directive. It remained uncertain whether the court would order further briefing, which would further delay resolution of the case.
Conservative Justice Samuel Alito asked Kelsi Corkran, a lawyer for some of the plaintiffs, “Should we decide or make up our minds on the underlying birthright citizenship question without briefing and argument and deliberation?”
Corkran said the justices should take up the case specifically on the merits of Trump’s order, adding, “The government is asking the court to allow it to ignore this court’s precedents ... and to upend 100 years of executive branch practice.”
The plaintiffs argued that Trump’s directive violated the 14th Amendment, which long has been understood to confer citizenship on almost anyone born on US soil. It was ratified in 1868 in the aftermath of the Civil War that ended slavery in the United States.
The 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause states that 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.”
The administration contends that this citizenship language does not extend to immigrants in the country illegally or immigrants whose presence is lawful but temporary, such as university students or those on work visas.

‘All kinds of abuses’
Without a universal injunction blocking Trump’s order, it could be years before the Supreme Court finally decides its constitutionality, liberal Justice Elena Kagan said.
“There are all kinds of abuses of nationwide injunctions,” Kagan told Sauer. “But I think that the question that this case presents is that if one thinks that it’s quite clear that the (executive order) is illegal, how does one get to that result in what time frame, on your set of rules without the possibility of a nationwide injunction?“
Sauer noted that after the dispute percolates in lower courts, the Supreme Court can ultimately pronounce on the legal merits of the policy, prompting conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett to express skepticism.
“Are you really going to answer Justice Kagan by saying there’s no way to do this expeditiously?” Barrett said.
Sotomayor compared Trump’s directive to a hypothetical action by a president taking away guns from every American who owns one despite the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
Sauer said that since Trump returned to the presidency, federal judges have issued 40 universal injunctions against his administration’s policies.
“This is a bipartisan problem that has now spanned the last five presidential administrations,” Sauer said.

Variations by state
The administration is seeking to narrow the injunctions to apply only to the individual plaintiffs and the 22 states, if the justices find the states have the required legal standing to sue. That could allow the policy to take effect in the 28 states that did not sue, aside from any plaintiffs living in those states.
Jeremy Feigenbaum, the lawyer arguing for the states, said states face high and costly hurdles in managing difficulties in distributing government benefits if the order takes effect and citizenship is applied in a patchwork fashion, adding that class-action cases are “not available for state litigation.”
Feigenbaum suggested that the justices could limit universal injunctions to a narrow set of cases, including in this case where alternatives to such broad relief “are not practically or legally workable.” Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, a critic of univeral injunctions, expressed some agreement with Feigenbaum on that point.
Feigenbaum said the legal issue surrounding Trump’s executive order was resolved by the Supreme Court 127 years ago.
An 1898 Supreme Court ruling in a case called United States v. Wong Kim Ark long has been interpreted as guaranteeing that children born in the United States to non-citizen parents are entitled to American citizenship. The administration has argued that the court’s ruling in that case was narrower, applying only to children whose parents had a “permanent domicile and residence in the United States.”
The 14th Amendment overrode an infamous 1857 Supreme Court decision called Dred Scott v. Sandford that had denied citizenship to enslaved and free Black people and helped fuel the Civil War.
“This order reflects the original meaning of the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed citizenship to the children of former slaves, not illegal aliens or temporary visitors,” Sauer told the justices of Trump’s directive.
The case is the first involving a Trump policy to be argued at the top US judicial body since he returned to office, though the justices have acted on an emergency basis in several other challenges to his policies. Three of the justices were appointed by Trump during his first term as president.

 


Spanish PM: Israel should be excluded from Eurovision

Spanish PM: Israel should be excluded from Eurovision
Updated 15 min 43 sec ago
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Spanish PM: Israel should be excluded from Eurovision

Spanish PM: Israel should be excluded from Eurovision
  • Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine 'who are experiencing the injustice of war'
  • Russia has not been allowed to participate in Eurovision since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine

MADRID: The Eurovision song contest should exclude Israel, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday, expressing solidarity with “the people of Palestine who are experiencing the injustice of war and bombardment.”
The intervention by Sanchez, one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s devastating war in Gaza, comes after protests against Israeli participation marked last weekend’s extravaganza in Switzerland.
Russia has not been allowed to participate in Eurovision since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“Therefore Israel shouldn’t either, because what we cannot allow is double standards in culture,” Sanchez said at an event in Madrid.
“Spain’s commitment to international law and human rights must be constant and must be coherent. Europe’s should be too,” added the Socialist leader.
Ahead of the Eurovision final on Saturday, Spanish public broadcaster RTVE aired a message in support of Palestinians — despite being warned to avoid references to Gaza by Eurovision organizers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
In April, RTVE wrote to the EBU requesting a “debate” over Israeli participation amid civil society “concerns” about the situation in Gaza, where the risk of famine is rising.
Sanchez, who last year recognized a Palestinian state, also expressed on Monday “a supportive embrace for the people of Ukraine and the people of Palestine who are experiencing the injustice of war and bombardment.”
At an Arab League summit in Baghdad on Saturday, the Socialist leader called for more international pressure on Israel to stop the “massacre in Gaza.”
The occupied Palestinian territory has been under a complete aid blockade by Israel since March 2.
Spain will submit a proposal to the United Nations General Assembly to ask the International Court of Justice to rule on Israel’s compliance with international obligations on humanitarian aid access to Gaza, Sanchez added.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Hamas also took 251 hostages during the attack, 57 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed 53,339 people in Gaza, mainly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
The UN considers the ministry’s figures to be reliable.


First Filipino pilgrims depart Manila for Hajj

First Filipino pilgrims depart Manila for Hajj
Updated 35 min 24 sec ago
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First Filipino pilgrims depart Manila for Hajj

First Filipino pilgrims depart Manila for Hajj
  • 5,000 Filipino Muslims are expected to perform the pilgrimage this year
  • Special Hajj flights from the Philippines will operate through May 29

MANILA: Philippine officials and Saudi Arabia’s ambassador saw off on Monday the first group of Filipino pilgrims departing from Manila to Madinah to take part in this year’s Hajj.

A total of 5,000 Filipino Muslims are set to undertake the spiritual journey that is one of the tenets of Islam.

Saudi Ambassador Faisal bin Ibrahim Al-Ghamdi accompanied hundreds of them as they prepared to board flights operated by Saudia, the Kingdom’s national flag carrier, at the Manila airport.

“As you embark on this sacred journey, I pray that your Hajj is accepted, your efforts are rewarded, and your deeds are righteous,” he told the pilgrims.

“I wish to assure you, dear brothers and sisters, that the relevant authorities in the Kingdom have completed all preparations to receive the pilgrims in line with the leadership’s clear commitment to making the Hajj experience smooth and spiritually fulfilling for all.”

Saudi Ambassador Faisal bin Ibrahim Al-Ghamdi, center, sees off the first group of Filipino pilgrims departing Manila for this year’s Hajj on May 19, 2025. (AN photo) 


Muslims constitute roughly 10 percent of the country’s 110 million predominantly Catholic population. The majority of them live on the southern island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago, as well as in the central-western province of Palawan.

The last of the special Hajj flights carrying Philippine Muslims to Saudi Arabia will depart on May 29 as the annual pilgrimage is expected to begin on June 4.

“As you embark on this sacred journey to the blessed place … may your hearts be filled with peace, prosperity and gratitude,” National Commission on Muslim Filipinos chairman Sabuddin Abdurahim said during the sendoff ceremony.

“Hajj is not only a physical journey, but it is a profound spiritual transformation where you will be going to reflect, to purify your souls, and renew your commitment to a new life of compassion, humility, and righteousness.”

Sahawi Mua, a pilgrim from Marawi, said he waited almost 10 years to be able to save money and take part in the pilgrimage.

“(With) the help of the Almighty … I prepared for this not only financially but also physically and health-wise, and hopefully I’ll be successful,” he told Arab News.

“I’ve prepared myself my whole life.”

For Marion Gandawali and his wife, the wait was even longer. Farmers from Lanao del Norte, they will be visiting Makkah and Madinah for the first time.

“We waited for 40 years … Whatever we earned from farming corn, coconut, we saved it all, our whole life, to get this chance to perform the Hajj,” Gandawali said.

“Even though we waited a long time, it was all worth it as my wife and I are doing this together.”


Pope Leo XIV and JD Vance meet ahead of US-led diplomatic flurry to reach ceasefire in Ukraine

Pope Leo XIV and JD Vance meet ahead of US-led diplomatic flurry to reach ceasefire in Ukraine
Updated 19 May 2025
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Pope Leo XIV and JD Vance meet ahead of US-led diplomatic flurry to reach ceasefire in Ukraine

Pope Leo XIV and JD Vance meet ahead of US-led diplomatic flurry to reach ceasefire in Ukraine
  • Vance, a Catholic convert, had led the US delegation to the formal Mass opening the pontificate of the first American pope

ROME: Pope Leo XIV and US Vice President JD Vance met at the Vatican on Monday ahead of a flurry of US-led diplomatic efforts to make progress on a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Vance, a Catholic convert, had led the US delegation to the formal Mass opening the pontificate of the first American pope. Joining him at the meeting on Monday was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also a Catholic, Vance spokesperson Luke Schroeder said.

“There was an exchange of views on some current international issues, calling for respect for humanitarian law and international law in areas of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved,” according to a Vatican statement after their meeting.

The Vatican listed Vance’s delegation as the first of several private audiences Leo was having Monday with people who had come to Rome for his inaugural Mass, including other Christian leaders and a group of faithful from his old diocese in Chiclayo, Peru.

The Vatican, which was largely sidelined during the first three years of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has offered to host any peace talks while continuing humanitarian efforts to facilitate prisoner swaps and reunite Ukrainian children taken by Russia.

After greeting Leo briefly at the end of Sunday’s Mass, Vance spent the rest of the day in separate meetings, including with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He also met with European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni, who said she hoped the trialateral meeting could be a “new beginning.”

In the evening, Meloni spoke by phone with US President Donald Trump and several other European leaders ahead of Trump’s expected call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Monday, according to a statement from Meloni’s office.
‘Every Effort’

Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, is a Chicago-born Augustinian missionary who spent the bulk of his ministry in Chiclayo, a commercial city of around 800,000 on Peru’s northern Pacific coast.

In the days since his May 8 election, Leo has vowed “every effort” to help bring peace to Ukraine. He also has emphasized his continuity with Pope Francis, who made caring for migrants and the poor a priority of his pontificate.

Before his election, Prevost shared news articles on X that were critical of the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations of migrants.

Vance was one of the last foreign officials to meet with Francis before the Argentine pope’s April 21 death. The two had tangled over migration, with Francis publicly rebuking the Trump administration’s deportation plan and correcting Vance’s theological justification for it.


Pets with a toolkit: Protection dogs train to handle burglars as sports stars boost home security

Pets with a toolkit: Protection dogs train to handle burglars as sports stars boost home security
Updated 19 May 2025
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Pets with a toolkit: Protection dogs train to handle burglars as sports stars boost home security

Pets with a toolkit: Protection dogs train to handle burglars as sports stars boost home security
  • Expensive protection dogs have been in demand among professional athletes to guard against burglars who target wealthy homes as part of sophisticated rings
  • The lengthy list of athletes whose residences have been hit includes England cricket captain Ben Stokes’ home was burglarized while he was playing in Pakistan

EMBOROUGH, England: Scream all you want, but Lobo isn’t letting go.

The young German shepherd has chomped into the arm of a would-be attacker wearing a padded suit at K9 Protector in southwest England.

A command later, Lobo is back at the feet of Alaster Bly and awaiting his next instruction.

“I describe them as pets with a toolkit built into them. A toolkit that you hope you’re never going to use,” said Bly, K9 Protector co-owner.

Expensive protection dogs like Lobo have been in demand among professional athletes to guard against burglars who target wealthy homes often as part of sophisticated crime rings. Athletes are particularly vulnerable while they’re away at games.

“He will end up in somebody’s home with high-net worth that is potentially at risk from more than your opportunist burglar,” Bly said of Lobo, who costs 45,000 pounds ($60,000) and boasts a Bavarian bloodline that is “second to none.”

German Shepherd family protection dog Lobo listens to owner Alaster Bly at the Strapestone Kennels in Radstock, England, on March 5, 2025. (AP)

The lengthy list of athletes whose residences have been hit includes Premier League stars Jack Grealish and Alexander Isak. England cricket captain Ben Stokes’ home was burglarized while he was playing in Pakistan.

It’s becoming a major problem in the United States, too, with former NFL cornerback Richard Sherman a recent example.

The homes of Kansas City Chiefs teammates Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were burglarized in October as part of a wave of break-ins that also targeted Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. Seven Chilean men were charged in connection with those burglaries, as well as the break-in at Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis’ home, where nearly $1.5 million in cash and valuables were stolen.

After consulting the FBI, the NBA drew up guidance for players.

One of the recommendations: “Utilize dogs for home protection.”

WHICH BREED IS BEST?

While almost any dog can provide some deterrence, protection-dog providers offer breeds like German shepherd, Belgian Malinois, Rottweiler, Doberman and Cane Corso.

Bly and his wife, K9 Protector co-owner Sian Bly, work predominantly with German shepherds.

“They are the most proven dogs at being family dogs,” Alaster Bly said.

They begin to differentiate early on which pups show potential.

“If we’ve got a puppy that’s really confident, is chasing a rag, biting hold of the rag, and their food drive is high, that’s a good starting point,” Sian Bly said. “We look at how competitive they are with their siblings, as well. You’re looking for quite a strong dog.”

Dogs that don’t make the cut might get routed to prison service or police duty.

“You can’t place a dog with young kids that’s nervous or that the temperament isn’t 100 percent,” she said.

PROTECTION DOGS ARE EXPENSIVE

The handful of K9 Protector dogs that reach “high-threat environment” status cost up to 75,000 pounds ($100,000).

It can take a couple of years to train for all sorts of scenarios.

“It’s vast — the ability to deal with four intruders at once, vehicle carjacking tactics, being acceptant of multi-handlers,” Alaster Bly said. “Husband, wife, nanny, housekeeper, estate manager all being able to handle that dog in an equal way in a threat scenario, and the dog still responding in the same way — is very different to a pet-level-trained dog with protection training.”

Clients must be a good match, though.

Sian Bly said if they think a buyer “might use the dog in the wrong way, then we don’t sell them the dog. It doesn’t matter about the finances.”

Between 10-15 percent of their clients are professional athletes and they typically require nondisclosure agreements, as do the actors and singers who come calling.

They sell about two or three dogs per month. When the economy is bad and crime increases — demand is higher. Winter months see more sales and the pandemic period of 2020-21 was “the busiest we’ve ever been,” Sian Bly said.

UFC FIGHTER ASPINALL PICKS A GERMAN SHEPHERD

UFC heavyweight Tom Aspinall added a protection dog to his family after moving to a new house. The Manchester native posted a video about it.

“I’m not here all the time. I just wanted someone else kind of looking after the family, as well as me, even when I’m here,” Aspinall said of his German shepherd.

US soccer midfielder Tyler Adams opted for a Rottweiler from Total K9, the North Yorkshire company that provided Aspinall’s dog.

Tottenham midfielder James Maddison got a 145-pound Cane Corso from Leicestershire-based Chaperone K9, which also counts Grealish as a client.

Grealish’s mansion was burglarized just after Christmas in 2023 while the Manchester City midfielder was playing a game at Everton. Family members called police when they heard noises and after Grealish’s Belgian Malinois and Cockapoo reportedly started barking.

Grealish later called it “a traumatic experience for all of us, I am just so grateful that nobody was hurt.”

TIPS FOR HOME SECURITY

The NBA memo urged removing online real estate listings that show interiors.

Some stars post their protection dogs on social media along with the pets’ names — but they probably shouldn’t.

“There is nothing more off-putting to a dog than being called by its own name when you’re breaking into the home,” Alaster Bly said.

The Blys use German commands, which buyers must learn.

On K9 Protector’s website, former long-distance runner Mo Farah, a four-time Olympic champion, described turning to a protection dog after his home was burglarized despite an alarm system, video coverage and 24-hour security patrols.

Intruders at Burrow’s house eluded manned security at his property while he was playing a Monday Night Football game at Dallas in December. The criminal complaint on the Chilean crew said they liked to approach from “a wooded or dark area.”

KNOWING THE RULES

Under the UK’s “Guard Dogs Act,” someone capable of controlling a guard dog must be at the premises, and a notice must be posted at the entrance about the dog.

Technically, there are scenarios that could result in criminal prosecution of dog owners in Britain — even in burglaries.

The National Association of Security Dog Users “does not promote the use of dogs as personal/family protection dogs and issues no certification or training courses in relation to this type of dog,” said Roger Flett, a NASDU director.

Samantha Gaines of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals warned against the “glamorization” of painful ear-cropping on breeds like Doberman and Cane Corso. The procedure is prohibited in England and Wales, but it’s legal to import them that way.

UK BURGLARIES ARE DECREASING

It’s unknown if break-ins at wealthy homes are increasing, but statistics for England and Wales show residential burglaries overall are decreasing.

From the year ending March 2018 to the year ending September 2024, there was a 42 percent drop, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Just a small percentage of burglaries get solved, however. Only in late 2022 did police chiefs commit to responding to all break-ins.

Alaster Bly, a former police officer, said it’s not just about burglaries. A CEO of a company might be facing a threat, or a person might be dealing with a stalker.

“There are life-changing incidents that take place regularly,” he said. “The array of problems and crime that’s going on in the UK at the moment keeps us busy.”


Almost all nations miss UN deadline for new climate targets

Almost all nations miss UN deadline for new climate targets
Updated 19 May 2025
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Almost all nations miss UN deadline for new climate targets

Almost all nations miss UN deadline for new climate targets
  • Just 10 of nearly 200 countries required under the Paris Agreement to deliver fresh climate plans by February 10 did so on time
  • Under the climate accord, each country is supposed to provide a steeper headline figure for cutting heat-trapping emissions by 2035
PARIS: Nearly all nations missed a UN deadline Monday to submit new targets for slashing carbon emissions, including major economies under pressure to show leadership following the US retreat on climate change.
Just 10 of nearly 200 countries required under the Paris Agreement to deliver fresh climate plans by February 10 did so on time, according to a UN database tracking the submissions.
Under the climate accord, each country is supposed to provide a steeper headline figure for cutting heat-trapping emissions by 2035, and a detailed blueprint for how to achieve this.
Global emissions have been rising but need to almost halve by the end of the decade to limit global warming to levels agreed under the Paris deal.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell has called this latest round of national pledges “the most important policy documents of this century.”
Yet just a handful of major polluters handed in upgraded targets on time, with China, India and the European Union the biggest names on a lengthy absentee list.
Most G20 economies were missing in action with the United States, Britain and Brazil — which is hosting this year’s UN climate summit — the only exceptions.
The US pledge is largely symbolic, made before President Donald Trump ordered Washington out of the Paris deal.
There is no penalty for submitting late targets, formally titled nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
They are not legally binding but act as an accountability measure to ensure governments are taking the threat of climate change seriously.
Last week, Stiell said submissions would be needed by September so they could be properly assessed before the UN COP30 climate conference in November.
A spokeswoman for the EU said the 27-nation bloc intended to submit its revised targets “well ahead” of the summit in Belem.
Analysts say China, the world’s biggest polluter and also its largest investor in renewable energy, is also expected to unveil its much-anticipated climate plan in the second half of the year.
The UAE, Ecuador, Saint Lucia, New Zealand, Andorra, Switzerland and Uruguay rounded out the list of countries that made Monday’s cut-off.
The sluggish response will not ease fears of a possible backslide on climate action as leaders juggle Trump’s return and other competing priorities from budget and security crises to electoral pressure.
Ebony Holland from the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development said the US retreat was “clearly a setback” but there were many reasons for the tepid turnout.
“It’s clear there are some broad geopolitical shifts underway that are proving to be a challenge when it comes to international cooperation, especially on big issues like climate change,” she said.