Supreme Court rejects President Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order
The Supreme Court has lifted restrictions on birthright citizenship, the centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump called on Congress to take action to end birthright citizenship after the Supreme Court ruled that the Supreme Court invalidated his efforts to overturn the long-held principle that all individuals born in the United States are American citizens.
President Trump expressed disappointment on June 30 in his first public statement over the court’s 6-3 decision to block the 2025 executive order he issued to prevent the children of illegal immigrants from automatically becoming U.S. citizens because they were born on U.S. soil.
But the president also insisted there is a legislative path to achieving his goals, which would likely require a constitutional amendment, despite Trump’s claims to the contrary.
“The Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, which is too bad for our country, but can easily be made up for in Congress with support from the President. This is what is being decided now in this process,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“We don’t need long and unwieldy constitutional amendments!” the president added. “Congress should begin today to end the costly and unfair birthright citizenship rights for our country. They have my full and complete support!”
The Supreme Court’s decision is a major blow to President Trump’s hard-line immigration policies, which center on large-scale illegal deportations of immigrants within the country.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., speaking for the majority, said that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily meet the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which states 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 in which they reside.”
Roberts was joined by two conservative justices appointed by President Trump, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, and three liberal justices, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor. Kavanaugh wrote that he based his decision on federal law, not the Constitution. The court’s three other conservatives, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch, dissented.
A majority of the justices ruled that birthright citizenship is constitutionally protected by the 14th Amendment, so banning the policy would require a constitutional amendment, which would require support from two-thirds of both houses of Congress.
Kavanaugh said in a concurring opinion that Congress could create an exception to birthright citizenship for children born illegally in the country. However, Kavanaugh’s position did not reflect the majority opinion of the court.
It also seems unlikely that President Trump will have the votes in Congress to pass legislation that would overturn birthright citizenship. Republicans hold a 218-212 majority in the House and a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and Republicans would likely need 60 votes to defeat a potential Democratic filibuster.
Passing a bill that would redefine who is eligible for citizenship would be an even tougher road to the 2026 midterm elections.
Trump allies Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) introduced legislation last year to ban birthright citizenship. The language of their bill recognizes birthright citizenship rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, but defines a person “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States as an individual whose parent is a citizen or national of the United States, an alien admitted to reside in the United States, or an immigrant legally entitled to serve in the military.
This bill would not affect the citizenship or citizenship status of any person born before the date of enactment of the bill.
“For many years, I have pushed for legislation and constitutional amendments to change America’s policy on birthright citizenship,” Graham said in a statement after the Supreme Court’s ruling. “While I am disappointed in the court’s decision on birthright citizenship, I am more determined than ever to end this great magnet of illegal immigration and birth tourism.”
Contributor: Maureen Groppe for USA TODAY
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