The US Supreme Court has dealt Donald Trump a stinging defeat, ruling 6-3 that babies born in the United States have a constitutional right to citizenship — a decision that blocks the president’s attempt to scrap a policy that has stood for nearly 160 years.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, held that children born in the US “to parents unlawfully or temporarily present” are “citizens at birth” under the 14th Amendment. The ruling came after Trump sought to limit birthright citizenship through an executive order, arguing that the children of undocumented immigrants and temporary visitors were not “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” and thus ineligible.
“US Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship, blocking Trump's bid to end 150-year-old policy.”
The 14th Amendment, passed in the aftermath of the US civil war and originally intended to guarantee citizenship to recently freed slaves, declares that “all persons born or naturalised, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” Roberts wrote. “The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ We keep that promise today.”
Five of the justices agreed that Trump’s executive order violates the Constitution. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote separately to say he believes the order also violates federal law.
Three justices dissented: Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito. Justice Thomas argued that the 14th Amendment was not intended to grant citizenship to everyone born on US soil, but the majority disagreed.
On Truth Social, Trump called the decision “too bad” and vowed to push for legislation to end birthright citizenship.
“No long and unwieldy constitutional amendment is necessary,” he wrote. “Congress should today start work on ending expensive, and unfair to our country, birthright citizenship.”
The US has granted citizenship to everyone born on its soil since 1868, a right reinforced by earlier Supreme Court rulings. The latest decision is a major setback for Trump’s immigration agenda and has been welcomed by civil rights groups.
But with Trump promising to fight on through Congress, the battle over what it means to be American is far from over.