The US Supreme Court has ruled that babies born in the United States have a constitutional right to citizenship, rejecting former President Donald Trump's effort to end the longstanding policy. In a 6-3 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts declared that children born in the US "to parents unlawfully or temporarily present" are "citizens at birth" under the 14th Amendment.

Trump had attempted to restrict birthright citizenship through an executive order, arguing that children of undocumented immigrants and some temporary visitors were not "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" and thus ineligible. The ruling is considered a significant setback for Trump's immigration agenda and has been welcomed by civil rights advocates.

On his platform Truth Social, Trump described the court's decision as "too bad" and pledged to continue efforts to end birthright citizenship through legislation, stating, "No long and unwieldy constitutional amendment is necessary." He also urged Congress to begin work on ending what he called "expensive, and unfair to our country, birthright citizenship."

The 14th Amendment, passed after the US Civil War and originally intended to protect the rights of freed slaves, states that "all persons born or naturalised, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States." This right has been upheld since 1868 and reinforced by subsequent Supreme Court rulings.

Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries said the court "finally affirmed that all persons born in the United States are American citizens." Dariely Rodriguez, chief counsel at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, added that the ruling "solidifies what we have known to be true for over a hundred years."

Sources