The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down former President Donald Trump’s effort to restrict birthright citizenship, effectively blocking his executive order that aimed to withhold automatic citizenship from certain children born in the United States. The 6-3 decision upholds a previous lower court’s ruling, preventing the proposed policy from being implemented.
Trump’s executive order was part of a broader initiative to tighten immigration controls. He argued that children born on U.S. soil should not automatically gain citizenship if their parents are neither U.S. citizens nor permanent residents. Opponents of the order argued that it violated the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, sparking legal challenges.
In response to the court’s ruling, Trump expressed his intention to back legislative efforts in Congress to alter the rules surrounding birthright citizenship. He suggested that lawmakers could potentially revise the existing system without necessitating a constitutional amendment. However, such a significant change is expected to encounter considerable political and legal hurdles.
The Supreme Court’s decision reinforces the traditional view that most individuals born in the United States are entitled to citizenship, with few exceptions. This verdict represents another significant blow to Trump’s policy goals, following previous rejections by the court of other major proposals.
The legal dispute focused on the interpretation of the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction” in the 14th Amendment, questioning whether it permits the exclusion of certain non-citizens’ children from citizenship rights. The court’s decision upholds the current understanding that birthright citizenship is safeguarded under the Constitution.