Ololade Adeyanju/
The United States Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to end automatic birthright citizenship for children born on American soil to many non-citizen parents, delivering a major legal setback to one of the central pillars of his immigration agenda.
In a 6 to 3 decision, the court ruled that Trump’s executive order violated the long-standing constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship contained in the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.
The ruling means that children born in the United States will continue to acquire American citizenship at birth regardless of their parents’ immigration status in almost all circumstances.
Trump signed the executive order on his first day back in office, directing federal agencies to deny citizenship to children born in the United States unless at least one parent was an American citizen or a lawful permanent resident.
The policy formed part of a broader effort by his administration to tighten immigration rules and curb illegal migration.
The order was swiftly challenged in court by immigrant rights organisations, expectant mothers and a coalition of Democratic-led states, which argued that it conflicted with the Constitution and more than a century of established legal precedent.
Lower courts repeatedly blocked the measure from taking effect, setting the stage for the Supreme Court’s final review.
The Supreme Court agreed with those challenges, reaffirming that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to nearly everyone born in the United States.
The amendment, ratified in 1868 following the American Civil War, states that all persons born or naturalised in the United States, and subject to its jurisdiction, are citizens of the United States.
The court’s decision also reinforces the legal principle established in the landmark 1898 case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, in which the Supreme Court held that a child born in the United States to foreign parents was entitled to American citizenship under the Constitution.
That judgment has served as the foundation of US birthright citizenship for more than 125 years.
The latest ruling marks the second time this year that the Supreme Court has struck down a major policy introduced by Trump’s second administration, following its decision earlier this year invalidating key elements of his global tariff programme.
Although the administration argued that birthright citizenship should not extend to children whose parents were in the country unlawfully or on temporary visas, the court found that the Constitution does not support that interpretation.
The judgment preserves a constitutional principle that has shaped American citizenship law for more than a century and ensures that existing rules governing citizenship at birth remain unchanged.
The ruling is expected to have significant implications for future immigration policy, as any attempt to alter birthright citizenship would now almost certainly require a constitutional amendment rather than executive action alone.
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