The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an effort by Donald Trump to end birthright citizenship, reaffirming that nearly all children born on American soil are U.S. citizens.
In a 6-3 decision, the Court ruled that Trump’s executive order, which sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign residents, violated the 14th Amendment.
Writing for the majority, John G. Roberts Jr. emphasized the constitutional protections of citizenship.
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights,” Roberts wrote, adding, “We keep that promise today.”
According to The New York Times, the majority included the Court’s three liberal justices and conservatives Amy Coney Barrett and Brett M. Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh wrote separately, stating he would have invalidated the order based on federal law rather than the Constitution.
Dissenting were Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch, and Samuel A. Alito Jr., with Alito calling the ruling a “serious mistake.”
Following the decision, Trump criticized the ruling on social media and urged Congress to address the issue through legislation.
