NATIONAL NEWS

The Latest: Supreme Court is set to rule on Trump’s challenge to birthright citizenship

Jun 30, 2026, 5:08 AM

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen Monday, June 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)Credit...

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen Monday, June 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Credit: AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib

(AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

The Supreme Court on Tuesday will rule on the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s order on are not American citizens.

The decision comes on the final day of a Supreme Court term that has centered on Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power — and largely ruled in his favor.

The court on Monday handed Trump a major win by upholding his firings of independent federal agency heads at will, with the exception of Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, who will retain her job while she fights the president’s effort to fire her over allegations of mortgage fraud.

Here’s the latest:

Monday’s ruling on federal agencies dramatically expanded presidential power

Other than at the Federal Reserve, with its role of setting interest rates, the court held that presidents have free rein to fire agency heads at will, despite federal laws that require a cause for such dismissals and a 91-year-old decision that had limited executive authority.

The justices allowed Fed governor Lisa Cook to stay in her job while she fights Trump’s effort to fire her over allegations of mortgage fraud, which she has denied.

With the six conservative justices in the majority, the nine-member court jettisoned its unanimous decision in Humphrey’s Executor that had limited when presidents can fire agencies’ board members — in part to try to ensure decision-making free of political influence.

“We hold that such protection from removal is contrary to the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court.

The court will also rule on trans athletes and campaign finances

In separate cases, the court will also decide:

Whether states can prohibit transgender athletes from playing on girls’ and women’s public school and college teams.

Whether to uphold a federal law more than 50 years old limiting how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and the president.

The court seemed poised to reject Trump’s birthright citizenship limits during arguments in April

Oral arguments for the case lasted more than two hours in a crowded courtroom that included Trump, the first sitting president to attend arguments at the nation’s highest court, and, in seats reserved for the justices’ guests, actor Robert De Niro.

Trump heard his administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, face one skeptical question after another. Justices asked about the legal basis for the order and voiced more practical concerns.

“Is this happening in the delivery room?” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked, drilling down into the logistics of how the government would actually figure out who is entitled to citizenship and who is not.

Chief Justice John Roberts suggested that Sauer was relying on quirky exceptions to citizenship to make a broad argument about people who are in the country illegally. “I’m not quite sure how you can get to that big group from such tiny and sort of idiosyncratic examples,” Roberts said.

Justice Clarence Thomas sounded the most likely among the nine justices to side with Trump.

National News

FILE - A federal agent wears an Immigration and Customs Enforcement badge in New York, June 10, 202...

Associated Press

ICE takes issue with AP reporting on policy to release body-worn camera footage

WASHINGTON (AP) — The acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took issue Saturday with reporting by The Associated Press on a policy to publicly release body-worn camera footage only when the agency determines it is in its “best interests.” David J. Venturella said ICE policy “clarifies that it’s not appropriate to release footage […]

1 hour ago

Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., from left, seated alongside daughter Nicole Nordone and husband Larry ...

Associated Press

Darline Graham tests value of a famous name vs. lack of experience in South Carolina primary

FLORENCE, S.C. (AP) — Few people have anything bad to say about Darline Graham, who was catapulted from obscurity last month when she was appointed to replace her late brother Lindsey Graham in the U.S. Senate. “I think Darline’s wonderful,” said Kathy Bustos of Mount Pleasant, after attending a Republican forum last week. But that […]

5 hours ago

Associated Press

Lake Mead hits historic low water level as Colorado River struggles

BOULDER CITY, Nev. (AP) — Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has plummeted to its lowest water level since it was filled some 90 years ago, another sign of the crisis plaguing the Colorado River system. Water levels at the reservoir, which straddles the Arizona-Nevada border outside Las Vegas, hit 1,040.4 feet […]

7 hours ago

FILE - Bethsaida Sigaran, left, of Baltimore, her brother Jaime Sigaran, with American Rivers, and ...

Associated Press

A pillar of environmental enforcement is targeted by Trump and Musk’s AI company

WASHINGTON (AP) — Right-leaning legal activists along with Elon Musk ’s artificial intelligence company have brought sweeping challenges against a cornerstone of legal enforcement in the United States: the right of private groups, people and local governments to sue over violations of many major laws. Their argument, supported by the Trump administration, is that the […]

8 hours ago

FILE - Maine loggers Stacey Kelly, second from left, Troy Jackson, and Hilton Hafford are threatene...

Associated Press

How Troy Jackson went from Maine logger to the Democratic nominee for Senate against Susan Collins

ALLAGASH, Maine (AP) — Troy Jackson stood alongside a small group of loggers deep in the northern Maine woods and stared down State Police troopers who threatened to arrest them. The lumberjacks had used their trucks to block access to the Quebec border in protest of Canadian loggers who were stealing their jobs by working […]

8 hours ago

Howard University graduates out-earn many of those with bachelor's degrees, according to federal da...

Associated Press

Anxious students who were unenrolled now moving into Howard University dorms

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nikiyah Clark had five boxes and a backpack when she ultimately received the keys to her Howard University dorm. Weeks earlier, the school had told her this moment would never come. When Howard administrators informed Clark — and hundreds of others — that she was permanently unenrolled for missing a tuition fee […]

8 hours ago

The Latest: Supreme Court is set to rule on Trump’s challenge to birthright citizenship