SCOTUS Draws the Line: Birthright Citizenship Stands

The United States Supreme Court has reaffirmed birthright citizenship in a landmark decision, upholding constitutional protections under the Fourteenth Amendment.

In its ruling delivered on Tuesday, June 30, the court voted 5–4 to preserve birthright citizenship. In a separate 6–3 decision, it also held that President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end the automatic grant of citizenship to certain children born in the United States violated the Fourteenth Amendment.
President Trump had made restricting birthright citizenship one of his administration’s key policy priorities from his first day in office. His executive order instructed federal agencies not to recognise the citizenship of children born in the United States if neither parent was a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.
The executive order was immediately challenged by civil rights organisations, which argued that it was inconsistent with the constitutional guarantees provided under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Birthright citizenship, legally known as jus soli, is the principle that anyone born on U.S. soil automatically acquires American citizenship. The right is guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868 following the Civil War.
The amendment was adopted in the aftermath of the Dred Scott decision, which denied African Americans the protections of U.S. citizenship. The Supreme Court later reinforced the principle in the landmark 1898 case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, affirming citizenship rights for children born in the United States to immigrant parents.
The United States remains one of at least 34 countries that recognise unrestricted birthright citizenship. Most nations in the Western Hemisphere maintain similar policies, with notable exceptions including Colombia and the Dominican Republic.