Supreme Court Rejects Trump Bid to End Birthright Citizenship
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In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship to anyone born on American soil, rejecting the Trump administration's executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction, effectively rejecting President Donald Trump's executive order that sought to end birthright citizenship for children of undocumented migrants and temporary residents. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, said the amendment’s language is clear and that the Constitution “extends that promise to every free-born person in this land.”
Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito dissented. Justice Thomas warned that the amendment is being “repurposed for political projects,” while Justice Alito called the ruling “one of the most important decisions in the history of the Court” and argued it improperly grants citizenship to “birth tourists.”
The decision leaves the Trump administration with no viable legal path to overturn birthright citizenship without a constitutional amendment, a process that has occurred only 27 times in U.S. history. Legal scholars noted that the longstanding interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, reinforced by precedent such as United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898), provides a strong barrier to the administration’s challenge.
President Trump has not yet responded publicly to the ruling. The case, filed as Trump v. Barbara, originated from an executive order signed in January 2025 and was previously blocked by lower courts. The Supreme Court’s ruling reaffirms the long-standing constitutional guarantee of citizenship by birth.