Center Square

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on April 1 over whether to uphold birthright citizenship in the United States.
Trump v. Barbara challenges President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025, executive order that denies birthright citizenship to children in the U.S. born after Feb. 19, 2025, whose parents are either illegally present or temporary residents of the United States.
The case has far-reaching consequences and could fundamentally redefine the 14th amendment, an addendum to the U.S. Constitution that provided citizenship to formerly enslaved African Americans. Legal analysts said much interpretation of the 14th Amendment has shaped current immigration law in the United States.
The concept of birthright citizenship primarily rests on a Supreme Court interpretation of the 14th Amendment to include children born in the United States to foreign parents. The 14th Amendment reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Steven Menashi, a judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, said the case will rely on the justices interpretation of “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” He said the clause refers to being born under the protection of and owing allegiance to a sovereign.
Ilan Wurman, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, said English common law – of which the United States’ founding documents were modeled – should be understood to protect immigrants who have permission to be in the country by a sovereign leader.
“Permission was relevant to protection and protection, as it turns out, was relevant to jurisdiction,” Wurman said. “The sovereign operated on children through the parents, which, of course, makes sense because parents have a natural authority over their children.”
Keith Whittington, a law professor at Yale, argued that protection by a country’s ruler could be granted to a noncitizen based on the sovereign’s discretion.
“If the king chooses to tolerate your presence in the country and does not take active steps to remove you, then the assumption is you are under the full governing authority of the king and should be treated accordingly,” Whittingston said.
In a modern context, Whittington said this concept applies to how immigration laws are enforced in the United States. He pointed to the Trump administration’s policies of targeting immigration enforcement for the “worst of the worst.”
“If you’re not being actively removed from the country, then you are expected to play by the rules of the local jurisdiction and the government will continue to place demands on you and also expect that you will abide by local laws until the moment comes when we choose to actually take action and deport you,” Whittington said.
Ultimately, Whittington and Wurman agreed that justices on the high court should understand the 14th Amendment to not immediately extend citizenship for those born in the United States. Both professors called on Congress to provide more clarity over the 14th Amendment’s definitional issues.
Whittington said Congress could attempt to limit the ability of immigrants who attempt “birth tourism” in order to confer citizenship onto their children. He admitted that any kind of legislation could have loopholes similar to the 14th Amendment, which gave rise to the immigration problems of the modern era.
“If Congress really cared about this, they can take steps to try to minimize how often it happens, but that’s the extent of their authority to be able to do something about it,” Whittington said.
With April 1 quickly approaching, immigrants and citizens across the United States will be closely watching the high court’s determination.

House Democrats urged the U.S. Supreme Court to oppose a Trump administration request for asylum seekers.
Noem v. Al Otro Lado, the case currently before the court, would determine at what point an asylum seeker “arrives” in the United States.
The Trump administration asked the high court to take up the case to reverse a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that allowed someone on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border to apply for asylum.
The 1990 Immigration and Nationality Act allows an individual who “arrives in the United States” to apply for asylum status and be inspected by an immigration officer.
Reps. Bennie Johnson, D-Miss., Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., argued that congressional history has allowed asylum seekers to arrive at any entry point in the United States.
“Every applicant for admission to the United States must be allowed to seek asylum protection, even if that individual is otherwise inadmissible or subject to expedited removal proceedings at the border,” lawyers for the lawmakers wrote.
The Congressional leaders pointed to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act, passed in 1996, to justify its asserts. The leaders said the 1996 law replaced “entry” with “admission” to expand protections for asylum seekers arriving lawfully in the country.
“‘Arrives in the United States’ refers to those at the border, including those presenting themselves for inspection by immigration officials at ports of entry,” lawyers wrote.
In another brief to the high court, the Trump administration argued the term “arrives” cannot be understood to mean someone on the Mexico side of the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Contrary to the court of appeals’ view, an alien ‘arrives in the United States’ only when he crosses the border and actually enters the United States,” Trump administration lawyers wrote. “An alien who is stopped in Mexico does not arrive in the United States.”
Justices on the high court are set to hear the case on March 24. They will likely make a decision by July.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has “10-15 days” to make a deal, President Donald Trump said Thursday.
Trump was asked by reporters on board Air Force One Thursday afternoon regarding a firm deadline for Iran, giving them 15 days “maximum” to make a deal, or “it’s going to be unfortunate for them.”
The latest warning comes amid a second aircraft carrier and its strike group sailing toward the Middle East.
The Trump administration claims talks are still on the table; however, the two nations are still far apart in striking a deal on the Islamic Republic’s plans to rebuild its nuclear arsenal, struck by the U.S. in June 2025.
In addition to the USS Gerald Ford, the newest and largest carrier in the fleet, which is set to join the USS Abraham Lincoln, multiple reports indicate that several U.S. aircraft are ascending in the region in preparation for possible military strikes.
Last week, Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, marking their seventh meeting since Trump took office over a year ago.
In a social media post after the meeting, the president urged diplomacy with Iran, following the meeting with Netanyahu. However, since the meeting, the president has issued warnings to the Islamic Republic urging them to strike a deal before it is too late.
“If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account. “Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a deal, and they were hit with Midnight Hammer – that did not work well for them. Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible.”
Israel is reportedly concerned with not only Iran rebuilding its nuclear program, but also ballistic missiles and support for proxy groups, such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
Despite giving Iran time to agree to a deal, the State Department has warned Americans in the Islamic Republic to leave the country. Trump said Iran’s leadership “should be very worried.”
The latest deadline comes on the same day Thursday that Trump met with leaders and representatives from nearly 50 nations for the inaugural Board of Peace meeting in Washington, D.C.. Much of the talk focused on Gaza, but the president called out Iran during his remarks.
“[Iran] cannot continue to threaten the stability of the entire region, and they must make a deal…If it doesn’t happen, bad things will happen,” said the president.

Domestic natural gas production is expected to increase by an average of 4.0 billion cubic feet per day, or 3.4%, in the next two years to 122.3 billion cubic feet per day, with more than two-thirds of the additional output produced in the Haynesville shale region of northwest Louisiana and northeast Texas.
Through the end of 2027, higher gas production will be driven primarily by rising demand for fuels to power data centers across the U.S. and by liquefied natural gas exports shipped from terminals in Louisiana and Texas, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s updated February forecast.
The department projects natural gas production in the Hayneville shale region will grow 1.2 billion cubic feet per day in 2026 to reach an average of 15.6 billion cubic feet per day, an increase of 8.3% in the year.
In 2027, Haynesville natural gas output is expected to jump another 1.6 billion cubic feet per day, or by 10.3%, to 17.1 billion cubic feet a day.
Prolonged cold weather in late January in many parts of the country drove power demand to record levels, draining the tanks that store U.S. natural gas and pushing prices higher, according to the department.
“We expect prices to rise from $3.52 per million British thermal units in 2025 to $4.31 per million in 2026 and to $4.38 per million in 2027, which allows drilling in the Haynesville region to remain economical, even with relatively deeper and more expensive well development,” per the latest forecast.
Most of the gas found in the Haynesville is produced by wells drilled to depths of 10,000 feet to 18,000 feet below the surface, which compares to the 6,000-feet to 10,000-feet range common in the Permian Basin and with 4,000 feet to 8,500 feet in the Marcellus.
Haynesville gas producers are near LNG export facilities
Natural gas production in the Permian basin, which crosses parts of west Texas and southeastern New Mexico, is forecast to climb 2 billion cubic feet per day in the next two years to an average of 27.8 billion cubic feet per day, an increase of 7.8%, according to the energy department.
Appalachian natural gas production will grow an average of 300 million cubic feet per day in 2026 and then by another 500 million cubic feet per day in 2027 to about 37 billion cubic feet per day, or by 2.2%, according to the forecast.
“The closest gas supply in volumes needed at the big LNG export terminals along the Gulf Coast is in the Haynesville shale basin, but what is produced there is determined by what is happening in west Texas,” said Eric Smith, an energy economist at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business.
Smith said the economics of oil and gas production in the Haynesville and Permian basins differ, with benchmark prices for natural gas set by oil drillers in west Texas. Companies drilling in the Permian basin generally target oil, Smith said, and when prices are low they throttle back production and their natural gas output also declines, supporting new drilling activity in the Haynesville region.
“The difference between the Permian and the Haynesville is the Haynesville is a pure gas play,” said Smith.
“When the United States began exporting LNG, it represented less than 2% percent of the total gas production in the United States, but now it is closer to 12% and LNG exports now are increasing at a much faster rate than domestic gas consumption, so there is growing competition for supply with data centers and home consumers,” Smith said.
U.S. LNG exports averaged about 18 billion cubic feet a day in November 2025, the most recent energy department data shows, which compares with an average of about 4 billion cubic feet per day in 2019.
Haynesville gas drilling activity up sharply in early 2026
In the first weeks of 2026, companies drilling for natural gas In the Haynesville shale region of northwest Louisiana and northeast Texas added rigs at a rapid pace, industry data shows.
The Baker Hughes North American rig count for the week ended Feb. 13 shows a total of 52 gas-directed rigs in the Haynesville region – two more than the previous week, up eight from two weeks prior and 30 more than the 22 rigs in operation a year ago, when prices were lower.
The total count of gas-directed rigs in the U.S. on Feb. 13 was at 133 rigs, an increase of three from the previous week and 32 more than at the same time in 2025.
The largest Haynesville producers in Louisiana, such as Expand Energy, Apex Natural Gas and Comstock Resources, are focusing new drilling primarily in DeSoto, Bienville and Sabine parishes. Since the beginning of 2026, the permits issued for new wells in Louisiana are primarily concentrated in Caddo, Bossier and DeSoto parishes.
In Texas, drilling is focused on Robertson and Leon Counties, where the most active drillers are Comstock Resources and Aethon Energy. In a recent earnings call, Comstock executives said they are prioritizing development of the company’s assets in the western Haynesville to supply rapidly growing gas demand from LNG export plants and data centers.
Comstock, majority-controlled by Dallas Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones, expects to drill 19 wells in the western Haynesville in Texas and bring 24 wells into production in 2026. On the Louisiana side of the border, the company anticipates it will drill 47 wells in the next year.
Comstock announced in December it is partnering with NextEra to develop a data center campus in east Texas that includes gas-fired, off-grid power generation to support hyperscaler activities. The companies plan initial generation capacity of 2 gigawatts with potential expansion to 8 gigawatts.

A certified public accountant that works with nonprofits says if they’re getting public money, they should have internal controls to avoid potential fraud, waste or abuse of taxpayer funds
Increased scrutiny continues to be on how federal tax dollars are being managed by states. Oftentimes, taxpayer funded programs are executed by nonprofits and non-government organizations, or NGOs. Lisa Stevenson, a CPA with NPO Accountants, said in order to avoid bad findings after the fact, NGOs need to be on the ball with internal oversight.
“One of the other easy ones that I feel like doesn’t often happen until it gets pointed out is a board member should be reviewing the credit card statement and receipts of the executive director, and not assigning that to a subordinate of the executive director,” Stevenson told The Center Square. “Sometimes it doesn’t happen at all.”
She said audits are important, but too often they find problems long after the problem started.
“I feel really strongly that the internal controls have to be in place to prevent it from occurring, because once it gets detected by an auditor, it’s already happened,” she said..
Stevenson said it doesn’t matter how the funds are misused, the non government organization will still be on the hook to pay back the taxpayer.
“Let’s say it’s an executive director and they, you know, commit fraud. They don’t care that it’s that person they are going to criminally prosecute, but they are still going to hold the nonprofit accountable to repay the money,” she said.
One blind spot for taxpayer accountability Stevenson warned about was that federal audits require single audits of how funds are spent by NGOs, but only if they get more than $1 million from taxpayers. That threshold increased from $750,000 in 2024.
In the state of Illinois, Stevenson said reporting requirements to the Illinois Attorney General are required at $500,000.
“The reason why it’s important is, again, kind of back to because this isn’t the organizations’ money,” she said.
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More than 550 training schools for commercial driver’s licenses have been closed, the U.S. Department of Transportation says.
Following 1,400 sting operations by 300 investigators across all 50 states, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration found many lacked qualified instructors, had fake addresses, and did not properly train prospective drivers for things such as transporting hazardous materials.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said some teachers were licensed or permitted for school buses, not the trucks requiring CDLs they taught students to drive. Some driving instruction was in vehicles not matching the prospective CDL licensure.
Trucking associations told The Center Square the Transportation Department is to be commended.
The Commercial Vehicle Training Association, the nation’s largest association representing professional truck driver training programs, said through Chairman Jeff Burkhardt, “CVTA has been the tip of the spear in identifying noncompliant providers and pushing for meaningful federal oversight. Our ELDT Task Force has worked tirelessly to clean up this industry and help usher in a new era of safer roadways and greater opportunity in trucking. We commend Secretary Duffy and Administrator Barrs for transforming these long-standing concerns into real enforcement that protects the public and supports reputable schools.”
ELDT is an acronym for entry-level driver training.
From the 150,000-member Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association, President Todd Spencer in an email to The Center Square said, “Shutting down hundreds of sham trucking schools that fail to meet even basic federal standards is a significant step toward protecting the motoring public and defending the professionalism of America’s truck drivers.
“For years, CDL mills have fueled a destructive churn driven by the false narrative of a nationwide truck driver shortage. Rather than fix retention problems and working conditions, some in the industry chose to cut corners and push undertrained drivers onto the road. That approach has undermined safety and devalued the entire trucking profession.”
Proper testing was another common fault. While standards can fluctuate from state to state, some investigators had schools admitting failure to meet their respective state’s norms.
“We mobilized hundreds of investigators to visit these schools in person to ensure strict compliance with federal safety standards,” said Administrator Derek Barrs of the motor carrier administration. “If a school isn’t using the right vehicles or if their instructors aren’t qualified, they have no business training the next generation of truckers or school bus drivers.”
There were 109 training providers voluntarily removed from the Training Provider Registry upon hearing the sting operations were coming. There were 448 notices of proposed removals for schools failing to meet basic safety standards. Another 97 training providers are still under investigation for compliance.
“For too long, the trucking industry has operated like the Wild, Wild West, where anything goes and nobody asks any questions,” Duffy said. “The buck stops with me. Under President Trump, my team is cracking down on every link in the trucking chain that has allowed this lawlessness to impact the safety of America’s roads. American families should have confidence that our school bus and truck drivers are following every letter of the law and that starts with receiving proper training before getting behind the wheel.”

Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio on Thursday backed a bipartisan proposal to cap annual deficits at 3% of gross domestic product, a resolution that would allow Congress to continue to spend more taxpayer money than it collects for years to come.
House Resolution 981 would limit yearly deficits to 3% of GDP by 2030 or sooner. GDP measures the nation’s total economic activity. Last year’s budget deficit was about double that at 6% of GDP.
The measure sets a target of reducing the deficit to 3% of GDP or less. After reaching that goal, Congress will then aim for a balanced budget. Congress has not achieved this in more than two decades.
Dalio urged Congress to adopt the measure.
“While most responsible members of both parties don’t agree on much, they agree on this,” he said in a social media post. “… All leaders from both parties I spoke with in private agree.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said he’d asked President Donald Trump to support the proposal.
However, Dalio said the challenge would be sticking to the plan when it gets difficult.
“The only impediment is their fear of the political consequences of being in favor of raising taxes and cutting benefits if that is required to reach the 3% GDP budget deficit,” Dalio wrote. “Passing this bill would be a step toward overcoming that objection as it would help legislators argue for fiscal responsibility.”
He said the measure would provide “both a rule and a report card” that “strengthens markets, bolsters investor confidence, and reduce the risks of the U.S. experiencing a sovereign debt/currency crisis.”
House Resolution 981 directs the House Budget Committee to recommend enforcement options within 180 days. These options include procedures for when the target is unmet. The Rules Committee must suggest rule changes to help meet the target. These changes may make budget rules harder to waive and require the Congressional Budget Office to analyze major bills. The resolution also urges Congress to avoid budget gimmicks.
The last budget surplus was in 2001. Since then, spending has outpaced revenues, and annual deficits grew sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic. The fiscal year 2025 deficit was $1.7 trillion, or about 6% of GDP.
Congress last passed a budget below the 3% target in 2015, according to the resolution.
Bipartisan Fiscal Forum Co-Chairs Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., and Scott Peters, D-Calif., introduced the resolution last month.
Congress has yet to take up the measure.
The growing national debt, which is nearing $39 trillion, is largely the result of Congress spending more money than it collects, along with rising costs for Medicare and Social Security as the U.S. population ages and healthcare costs continue to increase.

Record cocaine production in Colombia could cost thousands of American lives and an estimated $10 billion in annual overdose deaths, according to new research.
In a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, the four authors found the surge in cocaine supply caused an immediate rise in overdose deaths in the U.S.
President Donald Trump has changed the way the U.S. responds to foreign drug threats. He has used tariffs and the U.S. military to try to reduce the amount of drugs reaching the U.S.
Since re-taking office, Trump has used U.S. military strikes to destroy suspected drug boats in the Pacific and Caribbean. He has also used tariffs to press for drug policy changes in Mexico, Canada, and China.
U.S. officials have not estimated the weight or value of illegal drugs destroyed in recent military strikes. Trump has only used the military against suspected drug operations in international waters, but has said he would consider similar action elsewhere to prevent drug smuggling.
Colombia’s coca fields declined from about 168,000 hectares in 2000 to 48,000 by 2013. However, from 2015 to 2022, they increased to 230,000 hectares, due to two policy changes highlighted by the study in 2015 and 2016.
In May 2015, the Colombian government stopped its U.S.-backed aerial fumigation program for coca crops due to health concerns. Then, in 2016, Colombia signed a peace deal with FARC that introduced a coca crop substitution program, offering stipends to farmers who eradicated their coca crops.
“This well-intentioned plan backfired,” the authors wrote. “Farmers quickly realized they needed to have coca plants in the ground to qualify for compensation, which led many to start new coca plots or expand existing ones in hopes of securing the promised subsidies.”
The study found that overdose deaths in the U.S. increased almost immediately.
“We estimate that Colombia’s current coca boom is inflicting on the order of $10 billion per year in damages to the U.S. in the form of overdose fatalities,” the authors wrote. “In concrete terms, each additional hectare of coca cultivated in Colombia ultimately causes roughly $45,000 per year in harm to the United States when valuing the statistical lives lost to drug overdose.”
The authors of the paper – Xinming Du of the National University of Singapore, Benjamin Hansen of the University of Oregon Department of Economics, Shan Zhang of Old Dominion and Eric Zou of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business – said the U.S. couldn’t stop the damage at home.
“We find that a major surge in drug supply can drive up overdose deaths even without any increase in domestic demand, and that U.S. demand-side interventions alone were unable to counteract the flood of cocaine,” they wrote.
While opioid-related overdoses accounted for the majority of overdose deaths in the U.S. in recent years, deaths from cocaine and other stimulant overdoses also increased during the same time period. Colombia’s cocaine crop accounts for roughly two-thirds of the entire world’s coca supply.
“Our new empirical findings show that supply reductions abroad save lives, even when underlying demand factors remain,” the authors wrote. “… These magnitudes suggest that investments that reduce coca cultivation – or that prevent large enforcement gaps – can yield substantial health benefits for the U.S.”

President Donald Trump pledged $10 billion to reconstruction efforts in Gaza reconstruction during the inaugural meeting Thursday of the Board of Peace.
Trump opened and gaveled out the three-hour-long meeting at the Donald J. Trump Institute for Peace in Washington, D.C., which included comments from the nearly 50 international leaders and representatives gathered at the historic event.
“Board of Peace is one of the most important and consequential things, I think, that I’ll be involved in,” the president told the attendees. Adding that it is the most “prestigious board” ever compiled.
“We worked together to ensure the brighter future for the people of Gaza, the Middle East and the entire world,” Trump said.
In addition to the $10 billion committed on behalf of American taxpayers, the president announced the countries of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Kuwait are committing over $7 billion “toward the relief package.” Trump added that several others are expected to contribute, including a fundraising effort led by Japan, and the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance is raising $2 billion in support of reconstruction.
“The nations represented here today…are not just contributing money, some are also pledging personnel to help preserve the cease fire and secure a very enduring peace,” the president added.
Trump announced Albania, Kosovo and Kazakhstan have committed troops and police to stabilize Gaza, while Egypt and Jordan are also providing “substantial help” in the form of troops, training and “support for a very trustworthy Palestinian police force.”
It was announced during the meeting that 500 Palestinians have applied to join the police force.
However, the president did underscore the importance of Hamas completely disarming as part of the 20-point peace deal.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio underscored that a lot of work remains in the region, requiring the assistance of an international body.
“There’s a lot of work that remains. It will require the contribution of every nation state represented here today…We hope that this can serve as a model for other complex and difficult situations, so they can be solved in the same way. But right now, the focus is on this one. We have to get this right,” Rubio said during the meeting. “There is no plan B for Gaza. Plan B is going back to war. No one here wants that. Plan A, the only path forward. Path forward is one that rebuilds Gaza in a way of enduring and sustainable peace.”
While much of the meeting focused on the future of Gaza, Trump used a portion of his speech to send another strong warning to Iran as tensions rise amid continued talks in hopes of avoiding additional strikes on the Islamic Republic.
The president said that Iran cannot continue to “threaten the stability of the entire region,” insisting the Islamic Republic “must make a deal.”
“If that doesn’t happen…bad things will happen,” said Trump.
Leaders and representatives in attendance at the inaugural meeting were: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, EU, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
The formation of the Board of Peace was announced after a peace plan was reached between Israel and Hamas last fall, following the Israel-Hamas war, which cost thousands of lives on both sides.