US Supreme Court blocks Trump's bid to end birthright citizenship

The US Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump's order restricting birthright citizenship. The ruling preserves automatic citizenship for children born on American soil.

In Short

• The 14th Amendment was held to protect children born on US soil
• Nearly 250,000 babies yearly could have faced uncertain legal status
• Families might have been forced to prove newborns' parental citizenship status

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down President Donald Trump's executive order seeking to restrict birthright citizenship, ruling that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to children born in the US, including those whose parents are in the country unlawfully or only temporarily.

The decision marks the second major Trump second-term policy to be struck down by the court, after the tariffs ruling in February. Had the order been upheld, it would have affected the legal status of nearly 250,000 babies born in the US each year and required families to prove the citizenship status of their newborns.

Hours after assuming office for a second term in January last year, Trump issued an executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship to people with at least one parent legally present in the US. Trump had described the birthright citizenship policy as "a disgrace", while Vice President JD Vance had called it "the dumbest immigration policy in the world".

On April 1, Trump was present in the Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in the case, the first such instance for a sitting president. The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, says that all persons born or naturalised in the US, and subject to its jurisdiction, are citizens of the US and of the state in which they live.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the 5-4 majority, said, "Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights - to freely participate in our political community." The ruling said, "Children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause."

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said, "(B)oth the Civil Rights Act and the Citizenship Clause guaranteed citizenship to persons born and domiciled in the United States regardless of their race." He added, "Because many potential applications of the President's Order are consistent with the original public meaning of the Citizenship Clause, I respectfully dissent."

Several people in Trump's close circle, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, FBI Director Kash Patel and Second Lady Usha Vance, are children of immigrants who benefited from birthright citizenship. The ruling leaves in place the long-held interpretation of the 14th Amendment that birth on American soil confers citizenship.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends