The United States Supreme Court has rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship, dealing a major blow to one of the central immigration policies of his second-term administration.
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In a 6-3 decision delivered on Tuesday, the apex court upheld a lower court ruling that blocked Trump’s executive order directing federal agencies not to recognise the citizenship of certain children born in the United States.
The order sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born on American soil if neither of their parents was a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident, commonly known as a green card holder.
The Supreme Court held that the executive order was inconsistent with the long-standing interpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The 14th Amendment provides that all persons born or naturalised in the United States, and subject to its jurisdiction, are citizens of the United States and of the state where they reside.
Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion, relied on the court’s 1898 decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which has long been understood to guarantee citizenship to children born in the United States, including children of foreign nationals, subject to limited exceptions.
Roberts said the court had repeatedly understood the rule in Wong Kim Ark to guarantee citizenship to all children born in the United States and subject to its authority.
He said the Trump administration had presented scant evidence to support what the court described as a dramatically revisionist interpretation of the Citizenship Clause.
The administration had argued that the constitutional phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” should exclude children of undocumented immigrants and those whose parents were in the United States temporarily, such as students, tourists or workers on temporary visas.
It contended that citizenship at birth should apply only to children of persons with primary allegiance to the United States, including citizens and lawful permanent residents.
But the court rejected that position, holding that the constitutional text and historical precedent did not support the administration’s attempt to narrow birthright citizenship by executive order.
The case arose from a class-action lawsuit filed in New Hampshire by parents and children whose citizenship status would have been affected by the directive.
A federal judge had allowed the case to proceed as a class action and blocked enforcement of the policy nationwide.
The Supreme Court’s decision now leaves that block in place and prevents the Trump administration from enforcing the order.
Trump had issued the directive on his first day back in office as part of a broader immigration crackdown.
The policy was one of the administration’s most aggressive attempts to reshape American immigration law and citizenship rights without a constitutional amendment or an Act of Congress.
Critics of the order argued that it would upend more than a century of settled law and place hundreds of thousands of children born in the United States at risk of being denied citizenship.
Immigrant rights groups, civil rights organisations and several affected families had challenged the order, insisting that the Constitution protects citizenship by birth regardless of the immigration status of a child’s parents.
The Supreme Court’s ruling reaffirmed that birthright citizenship remains constitutionally protected for nearly all children born in the United States, with limited exceptions such as children of foreign diplomats and members of enemy occupying forces.
The ruling also marks one of the most significant legal defeats for Trump’s immigration agenda since his return to the White House.
Although the Supreme Court has backed the administration in some immigration-related cases, including decisions involving humanitarian protections and border restrictions, it declined to endorse the administration’s effort to rewrite the rules on citizenship by executive action.
The decision came on the final day of rulings for the court’s current term and just days before the United States marks its 250th Independence Day anniversary.
With the ruling, the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship remains intact, and children born on United States soil will continue to be recognised as American citizens under the 14th Amendment.
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