In the latest ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship and rejected Trump’s executive order to overturn this precedent.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court reiterated that the Constitution guarantees birthright citizenship, overruling President Donald Trump’s executive order, which aimed to strip children born on U.S. soil of citizenship when their parents are illegally or temporarily residing on the U.S. mainland.
The decision reinforces existing precedent in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution that defines citizenship as being granted to anyone born on U.S. soil, except for limited situations such as children of foreign diplomats and those of foreign occupying powers.
The order was signed by Trump on the first day of his second term as president, as part of his administration’s sweeping attack on immigration. But the policy failed to become law, and it was met by several federal courts, who declared that it was inconsistent with precedent set by the U.S. Constitution.
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The 14th Amendment provides protection to the citizens.
The Supreme Court in its ruling relied on the long-standing interpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment and federal statutes that have buttressed birthright citizenship for generations.
The amendment states:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
The justices also affirmed a lower-court decision from New Hampshire that invalidated Trump’s executive order.
In April before the oral arguments, both conservative and liberal justices wondered whether the administration’s plan was lawful. The hearing was watched by others, since Trump himself was present.
The Trump administration contended that the children of non-citizen parents are not “fully “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore should not automatically receive citizenship.
The administration tried to extend the restrictions to those who are illegally in the country as well, including international students, temporary workers, and some applicants for permanent residency.
But legal attacks came soon and there were numerous federal court decisions that relied on the Supreme Court’s precedent in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, a landmark 1898 ruling which concluded that children born in the United States to foreign nationals are U.S. citizens by the Constitution.
If the executive order had been in effect, the research by the Migration Policy Institute and Pennsylvania State University’s Population Research Institute says over 250,000 babies born annually in the United States would have been impacted.
The ruling will keep birthright citizenship as it is now in the Constitution.
The birthright citizenship order was among the foundation immigration policies that have been enacted early in Trump’s second term and the first immigration-related policy ever to be decided by the Supreme Court.
The case also marked one more big legal challenge to Trump’s executive branch powers. The Supreme Court overturned global tariffs under an emergency powers law earlier this year, and Trump has harshly criticized the judges, saying the decision was “unpatriotic.”
Trump also lashed out at judges and justices in recent weeks on social media for his attempt to limit birthright citizenship.
The Supreme Court, with Tuesday’s decision, has restated that — under the Constitution — virtually every child born in the United States becomes an American citizen automatically, without regard to his or her parents’ immigration status.
