President Donald Trump erupted Wednesday after the Supreme Court delivered a major defeat to his long-running fight against birthright citizenship — and then demanded the justices take an extraordinary step almost never seen in American history.
He wants them to reverse themselves.
The furious demand came after the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in Trump v. Barbara to uphold the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of citizenship for nearly every child born on U.S. soil, including children born to immigrants in the country illegally or on temporary visas.
For Trump, the decision was not simply a legal loss.
It was, in his words, a threat to the country.
“AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP IS NOT FOR SALE!” Trump wrote in a blistering Truth Social post, claiming that signs and billboards near the southern border and in Mexico were advertising birthright citizenship and “deliveries starting at $4000.”
Then he turned his anger directly toward the court.
“I will be asking for a Rehearing by the United States Supreme Court, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote. “This miscarriage of justice will destroy America if they don’t change their absolutely insane decision.”
The demand immediately drew attention because of how rare such a move would be.
A Supreme Court rehearing would require the justices to reconsider a case they have already decided, reopen the matter and vote again. In the court’s 236-year history, it has reversed itself after rehearing a case only once.
The last time the court even agreed to rehear a decided case was in 1965.
That makes Trump’s demand more than a political outburst. It is a legal long shot of historic proportions.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion rejecting Trump’s position and reaffirming the constitutional principle that citizenship belongs to those born in the United States under the 14th Amendment.
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” Roberts wrote.
The ruling was a sweeping rejection of Trump’s attempt to narrow birthright citizenship, a policy goal he and his allies have pursued for years. Trump has repeatedly argued that the current interpretation of the 14th Amendment encourages unlawful immigration and fuels what critics call “birth tourism.”
But the court’s majority held firm.
For Trump, that answer was unacceptable.
His post suggested that he sees the ruling not as a settled constitutional decision, but as something the court can and should immediately take back. He framed the issue in dramatic terms, warning that the decision would “destroy America” if allowed to stand.
Legal experts, however, say the odds are extremely slim.
Georgetown law professor Steve Vladeck has described Supreme Court rehearing reversals as a “virtual dead-letter.” The procedural barrier is enormous: one of the six justices who voted against Trump would need to support rehearing the case.
So far, none has done so.
Justice Clarence Thomas, who dissented in the case, wrote that he was “not sure that today’s opinion will stand the test of time.” But even Thomas did not call for a rehearing.
That leaves Trump facing not only a legal defeat, but a ticking clock.
He has until July 25 to formally file a rehearing request with the Supreme Court. That gives him just 17 days to turn his public outrage into an official petition.
The case has already become one of the most politically explosive rulings of the term.
Birthright citizenship has been part of American constitutional law for generations, rooted in the post-Civil War 14th Amendment. Supporters say it is one of the clearest guarantees of equal citizenship in the Constitution. They argue that weakening it would create a permanent class of children born in the United States but denied full membership in the country.
Trump and his allies argue the opposite.
They say the policy is being exploited by people who enter the country unlawfully or temporarily, and they claim it creates incentives for families to come to the United States so their children can receive citizenship.
That clash has now moved from the political arena to the highest court in the country — and back again to Trump’s social media feed.
The Supreme Court has spoken.
Trump is demanding that it speak again.
But history is not on his side.
To get the result he wants, the president would need the same court that just rejected him to reopen the case, reconsider its reasoning and undo one of the most consequential citizenship rulings in modern American law.
It has happened once before.
And Trump is now betting that it can happen again.
