The United States Supreme Court has ruled that babies born in the US have a constitutional right to citizenship, rejecting Donald Trump’s bid to end the 150-year-old policy.
In a 6-3 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts ruled that children born in the US “to parents unlawfully or temporarily present” are “citizens at birth” under the 14th amendment.
President Trump had sought to limit the right through an executive order, arguing that the children of undocumented immigrants and some temporary visitors were not “subject to the jurisdiction thereof”, and thus not eligible for birthright citizenship.
The ruling is a major setback for Trump’s immigration agenda, and has been welcomed by civil rights groups.
On X, White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, a vocal proponent of stricter immigration rules, called it “one of the most destructive and outrageous decisions” in the Supreme Court’s history.
“American citizenship is not the birthright of the world,” he said. “No provision of the Constitution can be read to require our national self-obliteration.”
But immigration advocates and detractors of the administration celebrated the ruling.
Hakeem Jeffries, who leads Democrats in the US House of Representatives, said that by applying the law and being guided by the Constitution, the top court “finally affirmed that all persons born in the United States are American citizens”.
“There is, and shall be, no question,” Jeffries said.
Dariely Rodriguez, Chief Counsel at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said that the ruling “solidifies what we have known to be true for over a hundred years”.
“Anyone born on American soil, regardless of the legal status of their parents, is born an American citizen,” she added. We have endured an incredible test of our collective will as a nation and have prevailed.”
