THE Supreme Court defended Tuesday the right to citizenship for people born in the United States, rejecting an executive order from the president Donald Trump which sought to undo this long-standing constitutional principle for children born to many immigrants.
“Children born in the United States to parents present illegally or temporarily are ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,” said the majority decision written by the chief justice. John Roberts said.
The Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1868, 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.” »
Roberts was joined by fellow conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, as well as the court’s three liberal justices, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, in the majority opinion based on the 14th Amendment.
Another conservative, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, wrote that he did not believe Trump’s executive order violated the 14th Amendment, but that it “contravenes a federal law” passed in 1940 that addresses the citizenship of people born in the United States.
The three other conservatives on the floor, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, all wrote dissenting opinions.
“The Court made a grave error,” Alito wrote in his dissent to the ruling in the case, known as Trump v. Barbara.
The court’s judges had indicated during oral arguments in April that they would affirm that people born in the United States to non-U.S. citizens were automatically granted citizenship.
Trump attended the oral arguments, becoming the first sitting president to do so.
If Trump’s order had been followed, there would have been tens of thousands of babies.
born in the United States each month to undocumented immigrants or visitors without U.S. citizenship.
“The Supreme Court has upheld birthright, which is a shame for our country,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social article reacting to the decision.
“But we can easily make up for it in Congress through legislation, with the support of the president, which has now been determined during this process,” Trump said. “No long, drawn-out constitutional amendments are needed! Congress should start TODAY working to end birthright citizenship, which is costly and unfair to our country. They will have my complete and total support!”
Read more about CNBC’s politics coverageCecillia Wang, national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which argued against Trump’s order before the Supreme Court, said, “This victory belongs to all of us and to the American people,” in an interview with MS NOW’s “On the Line.”
“We’ve already heard from our three clients, who are the representatives of the class here, who have all said, as your friends have, that they are under this cloud where the president of the United States is trying to undo this fundamental right that all Americans have relied on for 150 years,” said Wang, who herself has legal citizenship.
“And so everyone is happy with this decision, and I want to congratulate everyone who was part of our group and the plaintiff group, and again all Americans who stood up for citizenship rights,” Wang said.
Trump, on his first day back at the White House on January 20, 2025, signed an executive order to revoke the citizen’s birthright.
The order specifies that 30 days after it takes effect, babies born in the United States would not be eligible to be issued citizenship documents if their parents had immigrated illegally or were undocumented workers.
Protesters rally in support of birthright rights in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on April 1, 2026 in Washington, DC.
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