On the last day of its term, the US Supreme Court released a landmark ruling on the future of birthright citizenship, holding that the right remains in place. Under the decision, the long-standing rule still applies: if you are born on US soil, you are a US citizen. The outcome amounts to a major rebuke to President Donald Trump, who had waged a battle to narrow that right.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority of the court, concluded that the 14th Amendment means what it says. That amendment, passed after the Civil War to extend citizenship to former slaves and their descendants, remains the law of the land, the court found, leaving the constitutional guarantee intact.
In reaching the decision, Roberts leaned on precedent dating back to 1898, the last time the Supreme Court examined the issue directly. According to coverage of the ruling, the chief justice stressed that this more than century-old precedent is still controlling and continues to govern how birthright citizenship is understood today.
Trump had pushed for an executive order, issued on the second day of his term, that sought to limit birthright citizenship to the children of US citizens or permanent residents. The case reached the high court twice, and the president attended oral arguments in person. With this ruling, the order has been blocked from taking effect.
The decision was hailed as a significant victory for immigrant advocates, with the American Civil Liberties Union leading the case and attorney Cecilia Wang, herself a birthright citizen, arguing it before the justices. According to the coverage, roughly 255,000 children are born in the United States each year to non-citizen parents who would have been affected by Trump's order; those children will continue to receive US citizenship.
The birthright ruling came amid a consequential final day for the court. Separately, the justices upheld state laws banning transgender girls and women from school athletic teams, a decision that sided with conservative states. The White House quickly welcomed that outcome, framing it as a political win on an issue the president has repeatedly highlighted.
Taken together, the rulings underscored the weight of the term's closing decisions, touching on questions of citizenship, immigration and school sports that have featured prominently in national debate. For the families covered by the birthright case, the immediate effect is clarity: children born on US soil will keep the citizenship that has been guaranteed for generations.