Overview
- The Court struck down the administration’s policy that sought to deny automatic U.S. citizenship to most children born here to parents on temporary visas or unlawfully present, saying a president cannot override the 14th Amendment.
- The decision, issued on June 30, relied on long‑standing constitutional text and precedents and noted narrow exceptions such as children of accredited foreign diplomats.
- Several news outlets characterized the ruling as a check on executive power and a display of judicial independence from the normally conservative Court majority.
- President Trump criticized the verdict on social media and the administration has signaled it will press for legislative or other avenues to limit birthright citizenship rather than pursue more executive orders.
- Birthright citizenship traces to the 1868 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War to guarantee citizenship to those born under U.S. jurisdiction, and the ruling leaves any change to that rule to Congress or a constitutional amendment.