Overview
- The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that President Trump’s January 20, 2025 executive order denying automatic citizenship to many U.S.-born children was unlawful, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing the majority opinion.
- The Court relied on the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause and the 1898 Wong Kim Ark precedent to confirm that nearly everyone born on U.S. soil is a citizen at birth.
- Lower federal courts had already blocked the order and the high court’s decision resolves that litigation for now, though some outlets reported a 5-4 split while most reported a 6-3 judgment with separate concurrences and dissents.
- Justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred in the judgment but argued Congress, not the President, could change statutory rules, and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the majority.
- Advocates said the ruling protects hundreds of thousands of U.S.-born children each year from losing clear citizenship status, and President Trump urged Congress to pursue legislation despite the steep legal and political hurdles to altering the Constitution or precedent.