A major legal battle over immigration and citizenship in the United States has ended with a decisive defeat for President Donald Trump, as the US Supreme Court ruled that children born on American soil remain entitled to automatic citizenship regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
In a 6-3 decision delivered on the final day of the court’s term, the justices upheld the long-standing interpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, reaffirming that nearly everyone born in the United States is a citizen at birth. The ruling blocks Trump’s executive order seeking to deny citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants and people in the country on temporary visas.
Trump signed the executive order on his first day back in office during his second term, arguing that automatic birthright citizenship had encouraged illegal immigration. His administration maintained that individuals living in the United States unlawfully or on temporary visas were not fully “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country and therefore their children should not qualify for citizenship.
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts dismissed that argument, stating that “Children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.”
The case attracted nationwide attention, with Trump making the unusual decision to attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court in April. He watched as Solicitor General John Sauer defended the administration’s position before leaving before arguments by American Civil Liberties Union attorney Cecillia Wang, who represented those challenging the executive order.
The administration argued that unrestricted birthright citizenship fuels illegal immigration and encourages so-called “birth tourism,” where foreign nationals travel to the United States specifically to give birth. Lawyers for the government also claimed that the 14th Amendment, adopted after the American Civil War, was intended to protect the citizenship rights of formerly enslaved people rather than children born to undocumented migrants or temporary visitors.
The Supreme Court relied on established constitutional interpretation and its landmark 1898 ruling in the Wong Kim Ark case, which affirmed that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrant parents was an American citizen despite restrictive immigration laws at the time. That precedent has remained the foundation of birthright citizenship for more than a century.
The latest decision marks another significant legal setback for Trump. It follows earlier Supreme Court rulings that struck down most of his global tariff policy and blocked his attempt to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, underscoring the court’s willingness to limit key aspects of the administration’s agenda.
