In a major setback for US President Donald Trump, the US Supreme Court, on Tuesday, upheld birthright citizenship, striking down his executive order that sought to deny citizenship to children born in the US if neither parent was an American citizen or a lawful permanent resident.
In a 6-3 ruling, the court upheld a lower court's decision blocking Trump's executive order, which he had signed on his first day back in office as part of his broader crackdown on legal and illegal immigration.
Writing the order, Chief Justice John Roberts said children born in the US to parents who are in the country unlawfully or temporarily are "citizens at birth" under the US Constitution.
Referring to the history of the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, Roberts wrote that it was intended to guarantee citizenship to every free-born person in the country.
"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," he wrote.
The challengers argued that Trump's order violated the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to those born in the United States and "subject to the jurisdiction thereof."
Rejecting the administration's arguments, Roberts said there was "scant evidence" supporting its interpretation of the amendment.
"If Congress intended to limit American citizenship to the children of those domiciled in the United States, nothing in the succinct language of the Citizenship Clause conveyed that design," he wrote.
Three conservative justices—Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito—dissented.
Justice Thomas argued that the 14th Amendment was being "repurposed for political projects" beyond its original purpose of securing rights for freed slaves.
Justice Alito called the ruling "one of the most important decisions in the history of the Court" and said the majority had made "a serious mistake." He argued that the judgment effectively grants citizenship to nearly everyone born in the US, including the children of so-called "birth tourists," and maintained that the 14th Amendment applies only to children who owe allegiance solely to the US.
