Overview
- The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that President Trump’s January 2025 executive order seeking to deny birthright citizenship is unconstitutional, with a 5–4 majority on the 14th Amendment question and a 6–3 result on a related statutory issue.
- Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause covers children born on U.S. soil to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present and relied on the long‑standing precedent in United States v. Wong Kim Ark.
- Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined parts of the judgment but wrote a separate opinion saying the order violates federal statute and that Congress, not the president, could change the rule by passing new law.
- The executive order never took effect because lower courts had blocked enforcement, a step the administration appealed to the Supreme Court, and some experts had warned the policy could have affected up to about 250,000 births a year and forced families to prove newborns’ status.
- The decision ties the issue back to the 14th Amendment’s post‑Civil War purpose of securing citizenship and leaves only Congress or a constitutional amendment as viable pathways for any permanent narrowing of birthright citizenship.