Supreme Court Upholds Birthright Citizenship

The Supreme Court ruled today that birthright citizenship cannot be eliminated, finding President Trump’s Executive Order contrary to the US Constitution. Last year, on January 20, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order No. 14,160, which attempted to end automatic citizenship for children born to parents in the United States who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents. The Court reasoned that children who are born to “unlawfully or temporarily present parents” are in fact citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause. This decision preserves citizenship for children across the country and prevents the federal government from denying citizenship based on a parent’s immigration status.

The 6-3 majority opinion relied on the Constitution’s 14th Amendment to support their argument by examining the historical context of the Citizenship Clause. The clause reads that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Chief Justice Roberts explained that the clause was rooted in the English common law of jus soli (the “right of the soil”), under which a person’s nationality or citizenship is based on their place of birth, regardless of their parents’ status or ancestry.

The dissenting justices, Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch, took a narrower view of the Citizenship Clause. They argued that automatic birthright citizenship not only requires being born within the United States, but also a more permanent allegiance to the country. The dissenters maintained that United States v. Wong Kim Ark protected children of parents lawfully domiciled in the United States; it did not extend citizenship status to children born to individuals who are unlawfully present or temporarily visiting the United States. The majority, however, refuted this argument by concluding that the text of the Citizenship Clause does not contain a domicile requirement or place a condition on the immigration status of a child’s parents.

Although President Trump took to social media to call on Congress to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision, the decision is final. By citing the US Constitution, the Court grounded birthright citizenship in the supreme law of the land, meaning it cannot be altered through Executive Order or routine acts by Congress. What a relief!

This alert is for informational purposes only. Please contact us if you would like to discuss these developments further.