The United States Supreme Court has rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship, dealing a major blow to one of his most aggressive immigration policies.
In a 6 to 3 ruling delivered on Tuesday, the court struck down Trump’s executive order aimed at limiting automatic citizenship for individuals born on American soil.
Birthright citizenship remains protected under the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the country. Trump had sought to challenge that principle on the first day of his second term in office.
Delivering the court’s position, Chief Justice John Roberts said:
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land’. We keep that promise today.”
The ruling reinforces earlier decisions by lower courts, which had already suspended the implementation of Trump’s executive order while legal proceedings continued.
Trump’s relationship with the Supreme Court has reportedly become strained following previous legal setbacks, including a recent tariffs ruling, despite the fact that he appointed three of the court’s nine justices.
Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the court in recent months and had publicly predicted that the justices would rule against him on the birthright citizenship issue.
The decision is expected to have far reaching implications for immigration policy and constitutional rights in the United States.
