US Supreme Court Upholds Birthright Citizenship in Blow to Trump Agenda
Court rules against Trump administration on policy that people born in the United States are citizens
TL;DR
- The US Supreme Court upheld the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship.
- The ruling rejects a central pillar of Donald Trump's anti-immigrant agenda.
- An executive order seeking to deny citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign residents was deemed unconstitutional.
- Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority, stating the order violated the 14th Amendment.
- Liberal justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson, and conservative justice Amy Coney Barrett joined Roberts.
- Conservative justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch filed dissenting opinions.
- Donald Trump stated Congress should now take up the matter legislatively.
- Civil rights groups and Democrats celebrated the ruling.
- The Trump administration argued that 'subject to the jurisdiction thereof' in the 14th Amendment excluded children born to those not lawfully present.
- The majority opinion referenced historical interpretations of citizenship, including Dred Scott and the Chinese Exclusion Act.