Supreme Court Blocks Trump’s Bid to Restrict Birthright Citizenship

The US Supreme Court has rejected Donald Trump’s effort to end automatic birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to undocumented migrants and temporary visa holders.

In a 6-3 ruling delivered Tuesday, the court upheld the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, maintaining that nearly everyone born on American soil is automatically a US citizen.

Trump had signed an executive order last year seeking to deny citizenship to children whose parents were either in the country illegally or on temporary visas.

Lower courts blocked the move before the Supreme Court affirmed those decisions.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that such children are still “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore citizens at birth.

“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,” Roberts stated.

Trump personally attended Supreme Court hearings on the issue in April, where his administration argued that unrestricted birthright citizenship encourages illegal immigration and “birth tourism.”

The administration also claimed the 14th Amendment was designed mainly to guarantee citizenship rights for former slaves after the Civil War, not for children of undocumented migrants.

The court, however, relied on the historic 1898 Wong Kim Ark case, which confirmed citizenship rights for children born in the United States regardless of their parents’ nationality.

The ruling represents another legal setback for Trump following Supreme Court decisions earlier this year against his global tariff policy and his attempt to remove Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.

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