“Trump can’t accept that he lost his case, so now he’s asking the Supreme Court for a re-do until he wins,” Oregon Sen. Merkley responds after Trump seeks rehearing in birthright citizenship case

Oregon – Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley criticized President Donald Trump after Trump announced he would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its decision upholding birthright citizenship, calling the move an attempt to get the court to reverse a decision he disagreed with.

“Totally absurd—Trump can’t accept that he lost his case to end birthright citizenship, so now he’s asking the Supreme Court for a re-do until he wins,” Merkley wrote on X.

Merkley’s comments came after Trump said he planned to request a rehearing from the Supreme Court following the court’s ruling that rejected his executive order seeking to restrict birthright citizenship. The order attempted to deny automatic citizenship to some children born in the United States based on their parents’ immigration status, The Washington Post reported.

The Supreme Court ruled in late June that Trump’s executive order could not stand, preserving the longstanding interpretation that nearly all people born on U.S. soil are citizens under the 14th Amendment. The decision was a major setback for Trump’s immigration agenda and came after multiple legal challenges to the order.

Following the ruling, Trump criticized the decision and said he would seek another review from the high court. In a social media post, Trump described the ruling as wrong and said he wanted the justices to reconsider the case. Legal experts noted that Supreme Court rehearings are extremely uncommon, especially after a case has already been fully argued and decided, according to Reuters.

The birthright citizenship dispute has been one of the central immigration battles of Trump’s administration. The executive order was part of a broader effort to change federal immigration policy, but opponents argued that it conflicted with the 14th Amendment’s citizenship protections.

Supporters of Trump’s position have argued that the current interpretation of birthright citizenship encourages illegal immigration and so-called birth tourism, while opponents have argued that the constitutional guarantee should remain unchanged without a formal constitutional amendment.

Photo Courtesy – Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) via X | Video PrtScr – https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1965947311718269341/video/1

Merkley, a Democrat who has represented Oregon in the Senate since 2009, has frequently criticized Trump’s immigration policies and defended existing citizenship protections. His latest comments placed him among Democratic lawmakers pushing back against Trump’s effort to revisit the Supreme Court decision.

The debate is expected to continue as Trump and his allies pursue additional legal and political efforts to change immigration policy. However, the Supreme Court’s decision remains in effect unless the court itself takes further action or a future legal challenge changes the outcome.

The controversy has also renewed broader discussions about the limits of presidential authority, the role of the Supreme Court, and the future of immigration policy in the United States. For critics like Merkley, Trump’s request represents an attempt to overturn a decision that did not go his way, while Trump and his supporters argue the issue remains a major constitutional question requiring further review.