Federal courts have uniformly blocked President Donald Trump's order seeking to end birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to someone in the country illegally.
The Supreme Court is hearing arguments Thursday in appeals of three of those orders that prevented the Trump administration's citizenship restrictions from taking effect anywhere in the United States.
At issue are both the meaning of the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment and the authority of individual judges to universally block policies rather than apply them just to the people and organizations that sued.
In dozens of pages of opinions, four federal judges have explained why they believe Trump's birthright citizenship executive order, signed on his first day in office, is unconstitutional. Nine appellate judges also have weighed in over whether to narrow or pause those rulings while the administration appeals.
Here are excerpts from their opinions, as well as the 1898 Supreme Court case, United States v. Wong Kim Ark, that the judges have cited as the clearest precedent for their rulings: