WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court granted President Donald Trump significant victories in two separate immigration cases, though the highly anticipated question regarding whether the president holds the power to limit birthright citizenship remains pending. As the justices reached the final stage of their current term on June 25, they also addressed the ongoing debate between gun rights and public safety by striking down a Hawaii law that sought to regulate firearm usage in public spaces.
In a rare instance where legal views defied the standard ideological divide between conservative and liberal justices, the court ruled to block thousands of individual lawsuits brought against the manufacturer of the weedkiller Roundup. While more rulings are scheduled for Monday, June 29, Chief Justice John Roberts has not indicated that this will be the final day of the term, suggesting at least one additional session will follow.
The court’s immigration rulings provide the administration with the authority to turn away asylum seekers at the southern border and terminate temporary deportation protections for approximately 350,000 Haitian and Syrian nationals. Writing for the 6-3 majority, Justice Samuel Alito stated that the government may systematically turn back asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, warning that such measures could lead to increased deaths among those seeking entry or forced to remain in dangerous border environments.
Regarding the Temporary Protected Status program, Justice Alito again authored the 6-3 majority opinion, allowing the administration to immediately halt the humanitarian program that has allowed Syrians and Haitians to live and work in the U.S. due to crises in their home countries. Justice Elena Kagan dissented, characterizing the president’s rhetoric toward Haitians as repellent and racially inflected. Despite the loss of this protection, some affected immigrants might secure legal status through other channels, such as permanent residency.
A major pending case involves the president’s challenge to birthright citizenship, initiated via an executive order on the first day of his second term. The administration argues that granting citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants or temporary visitors is detrimental to the country, despite the 14th Amendment’s long-standing interpretation applying to nearly all children born within the United States.
In the June 25 gun decision, the court struck down a Hawaii statute requiring gun owners to obtain permission from private property owners before carrying firearms in public areas. Justice Alito, writing for the 6-3 majority, argued that the law placed severe restrictions on owners by limiting their ability to visit routine locations like laundromats, restaurants, and gas stations. Advocacy groups like Brady: United Against Gun Violence and lawmakers like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the ruling, arguing it prioritizes the gun lobby over public safety.
The 7-2 decision to block lawsuits over Roundup departed from traditional ideological alignments. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the majority, found that a plaintiff who had previously won a $1.25 million award against Monsanto could not maintain a failure-to-warn claim under Missouri law, noting the EPA had not mandated such a warning. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, pointing to a consensus among other state and federal courts, and was joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch.
The court remains occupied with several major unresolved issues as the term concludes, including cases regarding presidential appointment powers, potential changes to election rules ahead of congressional midterms, and whether states like Idaho and West Virginia may prohibit transgender athletes from competing on female sports teams.
