In a highly anticipated decision, the Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship, reaffirming that children born in the United States are citizens under the 14th Amendment, regardless of their parents' immigration status.
By Galilea Rios SchulzJune 30, 20261 min read
In a highly anticipated decision, the Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship, reaffirming that children born in the United States are citizens under the 14th Amendment, regardless of their parents' immigration status. The ruling preserves one of the Constitution's clearest guarantees, and averts what would have been one of the most sweeping assaults on American citizenship since Reconstruction.
The ruling was authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson; Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch dissented in full, and Brett Kavanaugh in part.
The Court reached the correct result. But no constitutional democracy should take comfort in the fact that four justices were prepared to strip citizenship from children born on American soil, embracing Trump's effort to narrow the Citizenship Clause and erase a constitutional promise that has defined U.S. democracy for more than 150 years. Their willingness to do so exposes just how vulnerable even our most fundamental constitutional commitments have become.
