Supreme Court to decide whether President Trump can abolish birthright citizenship
Supreme Court to decide whether President Trump can abolish birthright citizenship for some children born in the United States
On Friday, Dec. 5, as President Donald Trump attended the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw, the Supreme Court announced it would hear an appeal in a case that will determine whether Trump can strip birthright citizenship from some children born in the United States.
The high court agreed to reconsider a lower court that rejected President Trump’s argument that children of parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily are not entitled to citizenship.
Since the campaign, Mr. Trump has promised to make it clear that the Birthright Citizenship Amendment is limited to only people “born in the United States and within the ‘jurisdiction’ of the United States.”
In a press release after the Supreme Court’s announcement, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the administration’s efforts to violate birthright citizenship “ignore” the Constitution.
“No president can change the fundamental civil rights promise of the 14th Amendment,” said ACLU National Legal Director Cecilia Wang.
Here’s what you need to know about birthright citizenship.
What is birthright citizenship?
The 14th Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution in 1868 after the Civil War, granting formerly enslaved people civil rights and the freedoms outlined in the Bill of Rights.
The amendment provides that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States are nationals of the United States and the state in which they reside.”
For 157 years, birthright citizenship has made anyone born in the United States a citizen, including the child of a citizen, an alien legally residing in the United States, or an illegal immigrant.
How many people have obtained citizenship by birthright?
Eliminating birthright citizenship would result in an average of 255,000 children being born in the United States without citizenship each year, increasing the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States by 2.7 million by 2045 and 5.4 million by 2075, according to estimates from the Migration Policy Institute and the Pennsylvania Population Research Institute.
In 2022, the Pew Research Center found that approximately 4.4 million U.S.-born children under the age of 18 were living with illegal immigrant parents.
USA TODAY’s Sarah Chernikov, Ramon Padilla and Kathryn Palmer contributed to this report.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Contact us at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow us at X @fern_cerv_.
