The United States Supreme Court has struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to restrict birthright citizenship, ruling that children born in the country to parents who are in the US unlawfully or temporarily remain American citizens under the Constitution.
Gatekeepers News reports that in a 6-3 decision delivered on Tuesday, the court held that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to nearly everyone born on US soil, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, joined by both liberal and conservative justices.
The ruling nullifies Trump’s executive order, signed in January 2025, which sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the US to undocumented migrants and people in the country on temporary visas. The order had faced immediate legal challenges and was blocked by lower courts before reaching the Supreme Court.
According to the court, children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country and are therefore citizens at birth under the Constitution.
The decision marks a significant setback for Trump’s immigration agenda and reaffirms a long-standing interpretation of the 14th Amendment that has guided US citizenship law for more than a century. Legal analysts say the ruling reinforces the principle established in the landmark 1898 case, United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which recognised birthright citizenship for children born on American soil.
Three conservative justices dissented from the ruling, arguing that the Constitution should not automatically grant citizenship to children of people who are only temporarily present in the country. However, the majority rejected that interpretation and maintained that any attempt to alter birthright citizenship would require constitutional change rather than executive action.
The judgment is expected to affect hundreds of thousands of births annually and is being viewed as one of the most consequential immigration rulings of Trump’s second term.
