The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) rejected President Donald Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship, landing a big blow to the administration’s efforts to rescind more than 160 years of legal precedent and national tradition amid its immigration crackdown efforts.
The high court, divided 6-3, ruled that President Trump’s executive order titled “PROTECTING THE MEANING AND VALUE OF AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP,” was unconstitutional.
The majority argued that it violated the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, which designates birthright citizenship to almost anyone born in the U.S.
Children Born in the U.S. Are Citizens At Birth, Majority Rules
“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,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. “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.’”
According to SCOTUS’s opinion, Justice Roberts was joined by fellow conservative Justice Barrett, along with the high court’s liberal bloc – Sonia Sotomayor, Elana Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Kavanaugh Partly Sides With Majority
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, although siding with the majority, dissented with part of the opinion, believing that President Trump’s executive order did not violate the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Kavanaugh instead wrote that the president’s directive “does contravene a federal statute,” referencing the Nationality Act of 1940 and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA).
Congress Can Amend Birthright Citizenship Through Legislation
Should Congress amend the portion of the INA that allows birthright citizenship, “or otherwise enact new legislation establishing exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to foreign citizens unlawfully or temporarily in the country,” Kavanaugh argued, then it would be constitutional.
Trump Calls For Legislation To End Birthright Citizenship
“The Supreme Court upheld Birthright Citizenship, which is too bad for our Country, but we can easily make it up in Congress through Legislation, with the support of the President, that has now been determined during this process,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary! Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship. They will have my Complete and Total Support!”
