Trump v Supreme Court: The battle over birthright citizenship
Americast
BBC
4.3 • 3.1K Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2026
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It was an historic day in the Supreme Court on Wednesday as it began hearing arguments on Donald Trump’s effort to ban birthright citizenship. The president began his second term in office by signing an executive order to end automatic citizenship for babies born in the U.S to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily, an order which has now made its way to the highest court in the land.
In a sign of the case’s importance to Donald Trump, he became the first ever sitting president to personally attend oral arguments in the chamber on Wednesday.
In today’s episode, Justin and Sumi assess how the Supreme Court will consider the arguments over citizenship, how much of an obstacle the court is proving for Trump’s agenda, and why the Republican Party has become increasingly divided more broadly on the subject of immigration.
HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Sumi Somaskanda, BBC chief presenter
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This episode was made by George Dabby with Alix Pickles. The senior journalist is George Dabby, and the technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni . The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's a central question. Who are we? It's a question you can ask in any nation in the world, |
| 0:11.9 | and the answer will be subtly different. For the United States, the answer until recently was pretty clear. |
| 0:19.1 | Anyone who is legally there as a citizen is an American, including those |
| 0:25.1 | who are born there. That is enough to make you fully a United States citizen. You can one day |
| 0:31.5 | become president, etc., etc. Until now, Donald Trump has introduced into the American conversation the idea that |
| 0:40.0 | birthright citizenship should go. And this week, that idea is put to the Supreme Court. Welcome to |
| 0:47.3 | AmeriCast. Americaast from BBC News. You hear that sound? |
| 0:54.8 | Oh, I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money. |
| 0:58.5 | We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. |
| 1:02.8 | This is a big cover-up, and this administration is engaged in it. |
| 1:06.1 | This guy has Trump Arrangement Syndrome. |
| 1:08.0 | I have four words for you. Turn the volume up. |
| 1:17.1 | Hello, it's Justin in the worldwide headquarters of Americaast in London, England. |
| 1:21.1 | Hi, it's Sumi at home in Washington, D.C. And we're going to talk, aren't we, Sumi, about Supreme Court in this enormously monumentally important decision that it is about to consider. |
| 1:32.6 | And we shouldn't fool people and suggest that it's about to give us an answer as well. |
| 1:36.9 | That's not going to come this week, is it? |
| 1:38.7 | But the arguments begin. |
| 1:41.2 | And those arguments will lead to a decision which comes, what, it's usually June, |
| 1:46.2 | isn't it, that you hear with the big Supreme Court decisions, what they actually are. |
| 1:50.6 | That's right, Justin. This has been one of the fundamental tenets of American immigration |
| 1:54.9 | policy for many, many years, that if you are born on U.S. soil, you are a U.S. citizen. |
| 2:01.5 | And it really is a monumental case that's being heard before the Supreme Court. |
... |
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