The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to reinstate a Florida law that would have allowed officials there to prosecute migrants who entered the state illegally. The court did not explain its ruling, which also noted the absence of any dissenting opinions. The order was issued in response to an emergency application.
Florida’s immigration law, SB 4-C, criminalizes entering the state after illegally entering the U.S. and evading immigration authorities. Last year, the Supreme Court allowed a similar law in Texas to take effect.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, an Obama appointee, issued an indefinite injunction against the law, finding it likely preempted by federal immigration law and unconstitutional.
Florida appealed to the Supreme Court last month after a three-judge panel from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction.
State Attorney General James Uthmeier argued in his appeal to the Supreme Court that the state’s new policy does not conflict with federal law.
It’s unclear why the high court allowed the similar Texas law to take effect but not the Florida statute.
“Florida carefully crafted both provisions to track, mimic, and depend upon federal immigration law precisely,” he wrote, adding that a contrary view “strikes at the heart of states’ ability to protect their citizens from the devastating effects of illegal immigration.”
President Trump made history this week after he attended oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday as his administration fights to uphold his early executive order banning birthright citizenship.
He is the first president in office to attend the nation’s highest court’s oral arguments.
The top representative of the federal government before the Supreme Court is D. John Sauer, the U.S. solicitor general. After serving as Missouri’s solicitor general from 2017 to 2023, he was appointed to the position by President Trump and assumed office in April 2025.
Sauer currently oversees appellate advocacy on behalf of the United States and represents the federal government in Supreme Court cases at the Justice Department.
Soon after he left the Supreme Court, the president took to social media to deliver a pointed message.
“We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow ‘Birthright’ Citizenship! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” the president wrote on his Truth Social site.
The Supreme Court case concerns whether children born in the United States to parents who are not legally present automatically become citizens of the United States, as well as the extent of birthright citizenship under the U.S. Constitution.
Although precedent has long been thought to have resolved the matter, legal challenges aiming to restrict that interpretation have brought it back to life.
The Supreme Court announced in December it would hear arguments in a case challenging birthright citizenship, the constitutional principle that grants U.S. citizenship to nearly all children born on American soil as laid out in the Fourteenth Amendment.
The case centers on a statutory and constitutional question over whether the amendment’s Citizenship Clause applies to children born in the United States to parents who are not legal permanent residents. The plaintiffs argue that the original meaning of the clause does not extend automatic citizenship to children of parents in the country illegally.
Oral arguments focused on historical evidence and interpretations of the 14th Amendment’s text and intent of Congress at the time the post-Civil War measure was ratified.
The case, Trump v. Barbara, challenges the legality of an executive order issued by Trump on his first day back in office, January 20, 2025.
The order terminates automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to parents who are in the country without lawful status or who are only temporarily present.
A ruling in the case could reshape federal immigration policy and raise questions about citizenship status for children born in the country to parents without lawful status. The Supreme Court is not expected to issue a decision before late June.