The US Supreme Court on Tuesday reaffirmed the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, rejecting an executive order by President Donald Trump that sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily.
The ruling preserves the long-established interpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, under which nearly all children born on US soil are recognized as American citizens regardless of their parents' immigration status.
The decision came on the final day of the court's current term, which featured several high-profile cases involving Trump's broad assertions of presidential authority. Reacting to the verdict, Trump described the outcome as "too bad."
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said the court was not creating a new legal standard but reaffirming a principle deeply rooted in both English common law and American constitutional history.
Roberts noted that citizenship has historically depended on the place of birth rather than the immigration status or permanent residence of a child's parents. He cited debates surrounding the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment, saying its framers intended to extend citizenship to every person born in the country.
"We keep that promise today," Roberts wrote, adding that the court was simply upholding a long-established constitutional understanding.
Justice Clarence Thomas, in the principal dissent, argued that the Citizenship Clause should not automatically apply to all children born in the United States. He maintained that the amendment was intended primarily to secure citizenship for formerly enslaved people following the Civil War and that it required a stronger legal connection, or domicile, to the country.
Thomas said Trump's executive order was not unconstitutional on its face, arguing that it was consistent with what he described as the original meaning of the Citizenship Clause, including in cases involving children of parents who were not legally or permanently settled in the United States.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson joined the majority opinion and also issued a separate opinion criticizing Thomas' interpretation of the Reconstruction Amendments.
Jackson argued that the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were designed to eliminate systems of caste and subordination rather than serve as narrowly tailored measures benefiting only formerly enslaved people. She said Thomas' reading of the Citizenship Clause failed to reflect the broader historical purpose behind those constitutional changes.
In other decisions issued Tuesday, the Supreme Court upheld state laws in about half of the country that bar transgender girls and women from competing on female public school and college sports teams. The court also struck down federal limits on political party spending in election campaigns.
A day earlier, the court delivered another major ruling in Trump's favor by allowing the president to remove the heads of independent federal agencies at will. However, it left Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook in her position while she challenges Trump's attempt to dismiss her over allegations of mortgage fraud.