The United States Supreme Court has dealt President Donald Trump a major setback, rejecting his administration’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship for children born on American soil.
In a closely watched 6-3 ruling, the nation’s highest court struck down an executive order signed by Trump at the beginning of his second term that sought to deny automatic US citizenship to certain children born in the country.
The decision preserves one of the longest-standing constitutional rights in the United States and marks a significant defeat for the administration’s immigration agenda.
At the centre of the case was the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the United States.
Trump had signed the executive order on his first day back in office, arguing that the constitutional provision should not automatically apply in every circumstance.
However, the Supreme Court disagreed, affirming that birthright citizenship remains protected under the Constitution.
Delivering the court’s opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts stressed the historical importance of the constitutional guarantee.
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land’. We keep that promise today.”
The ruling effectively prevents the executive order from taking effect.
Before Tuesday’s decision, several lower federal courts had already suspended Trump’s executive order while legal challenges worked their way through the judicial system.
Immigration advocates argued that the order directly conflicted with the Constitution and decades of legal precedent protecting birthright citizenship.
The Supreme Court’s decision now brings greater legal certainty by affirming that presidents cannot alter constitutional citizenship rights through executive action alone.
The ruling represents one of the most significant judicial defeats for Trump since returning to the White House.
Although the president appointed three of the Supreme Court’s nine justices during his first term, his relationship with the court has become increasingly strained in recent months.
Trump had publicly criticized the justices ahead of the ruling and suggested he expected the court to reject his position on birthright citizenship.
The decision is expected to have far-reaching implications for future immigration policy debates, as birthright citizenship has remained one of the most contentious issues in American politics.
For now, the Supreme Court’s judgment ensures that children born in the United States will continue to receive automatic citizenship under the protections of the 14th Amendment, preserving a constitutional principle that has stood for more than 150 years.
