On June 30, 2026, the Supreme Court struck down President Trump's executive order that sought to end birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants. The ruling reaffirmed the longstanding interpretation of the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause, which states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

Five justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, agreed that the executive order violated the Constitution. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote separately, contending that the order also violated federal law. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

The decision firmly rejected the executive order issued by Trump on the first day of his second term. Trump responded on Truth Social, stating, "The Supreme Court upheld Birthright Citizenship, which is too bad for our Country, but we can easily make it up in Congress through Legislation, with the support of the President, that has now been determined during this process."

The Citizenship Clause has been codified in federal immigration law through the Nationality Act of 1940 and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. The Supreme Court previously affirmed the rule of citizenship by birth in an 1898 landmark case, with limited exceptions for children of foreign diplomats, occupying armies, and Native American tribes.

According to the Migration Policy Institute and Penn State's Population Research Institute, an estimated 250,000 babies born in the U.S. each year would have been denied citizenship under the executive order.

This ruling was part of a day marked by landmark Supreme Court decisions, including rulings that rejected core facets of President Trump’s immigration agenda, upheld statewide bans on transgender athletes in sports, and dismantled a federal law enacted after the Watergate controversy.

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