A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Caitlin Tremblay

Good morning. Today the U.S. Supreme Court will weigh President Trump’s bid to limit birthright citizenship. Plus, the 5th Circuit will consider the constitutionality of the Federal Switchblade Act; a federal judge in D.C. will consider blocking Trump’s sanctions against the International Criminal Court; and a David Boies-led legal team asked for $147 million in fees from a Google verdict. Here’s a look at cherry blossoms in bloom around the world. I hope they put a little spring in your step today.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments over the legality of President Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship, a contentious part of his efforts to curb immigration.

Why it matters: The case could alter how the 14th Amendment has long been understood. On March 28, 1898, the court ruled that the 14th Amendment grants citizenship by birth on U.S. soil. Read the 1898 decision here. If the court decides (again) that the Constitution protects birthright citizenship, then only a constitutional amendment could change that. That process would likely take years. More here.

Context: This is technically the second time the Supreme Court has considered the Trump birthright case. Last June the court handed Trump a major victory in the case by curbing the ability of judges to impede his policies nationwide, changing the power balance between the federal judiciary and presidents. But that ruling did not address the legality of the policy which is what the justices will take up today. More here.

Who: Solicitor General D. John Sauer for the petitioners; ACLU National Legal Director Cecillia Wang for the respondents. 

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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.

That’s how much a David Boies-led legal team asked for in fees after winning a $425 million jury verdict against Google in a data privacy trial last year. Boies Schiller Flexner; Susman Godfrey and Morgan & Morgan said awarding the full amount would encourage plaintiffs’ lawyers to take difficult cases to trial rather than accept settlements that could shortchange class members. Read more.

—U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, ruling against Colorado’s ban on LGBTQ+ “conversion therapy.” The court ruled 8-1 backing the challenge to the law and returned the case to the lower court for further proceedings under a more rigorous First Amendment standard. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. Read the opinion.