US Supreme Court Upholds Birthright, Rejects Trump’s Executive Order | Today’s news
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the constitutional principle of birthright citizenship, rejecting President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily.
In the landmark ruling, the justices reaffirmed a long-held interpretation of the 14th Amendment that says nearly everyone born on American soil is a citizen, with only limited exceptions such as the children of foreign diplomats or members of foreign occupation forces.
The decision leaves intact decades of constitutional precedent and prevents Trump’s executive order from taking effect.
Court reaffirms 14th Amendment
The Supreme Court relied on the text of the 14th Amendment adopted after the Civil War, along with long-standing federal law, to conclude that primogeniture remained constitutionally protected.
“All persons born or naturalized in and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States are citizens of the United States and of the State in which they reside.”
The decision preserves the traditional understanding that citizenship is automatically granted to almost everyone born in the country.
Trump’s executive order rejected
Trump signed the executive order on the first day of his second term as part of a broader crackdown on immigration.
The goal of the order was to deny US citizenship to children born in the country if their parents were in the United States illegally or were in the country on temporary visas.
However, several lower courts blocked the order before it could take effect, finding it unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court agreed, upholding a New Hampshire lower court ruling that struck down the restrictions.
The longstanding precedent remains intact
The decision reinforces more than a century of legal precedent, including the Supreme Court’s landmark 1898 ruling in Wong Kim Ark, which held that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrant parents was an American citizen under the 14th Amendment.
Lower courts relied heavily on that precedent in striking down Trump’s executive order.
The administration challenged the constitutional interpretation
The Trump administration has argued that children born to non-citizens are “not subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and are therefore not entitled to automatic citizenship under the Constitution.
The administration argued that the widely accepted interpretation of the citizenship clause was legally incorrect.
The Supreme Court rejected this argument and reaffirmed the traditional interpretation of the amendment.
