President Donald Trump has urged Congress to take action following the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold birthright citizenship, which invalidated an executive order aimed at restricting these protections.
Trump asserted that children born to parents residing in the United States illegally or on a temporary basis do not qualify as American citizens.
“The Supreme Court upheld Birthright Citizenship, which is too bad for our Country, but we can easily make it up in Congress through Legislation, with the support of the President, that has now been determined during this process,” Trump stated on Truth Social soon after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
He added, “No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary! Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship. They will have my Complete and Total Support!”
In the court’s view, Chief Justice Roberts stated that there is “scant evidence” supporting the Trump administration’s “dramatically revisionist view” on the 14th Amendment and the restrictions regarding citizenship at birth.
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All on Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship decision
For over a century, the Supreme Court has maintained the definition applicable to all children born in the United States, a definition that Congress formalized into law in 1952.
However, through an executive order, Trump attempted to unilaterally alter that amendment, proposing that infants born on U.S. territory would not receive citizenship at birth if their mother was “unlawfully present” or held a “lawful but temporary” status, and if the father was neither a United States citizen nor a lawful permanent resident at the time of the child’s birth.
In a divided ruling issued on Tuesday by the nation’s highest court, which marks the conclusion of this year’s term and was penned by Chief Justice John Roberts, the majority concluded that children born in the United States to parents who are “unlawfully or temporarily present” are indeed “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S. and are citizens at birth.
The decision to invalidate Trump’s order was made with a 6-3 vote, supported by liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, along with conservative Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, both of whom were appointed by Trump.
Dissenting were Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch, who is also a Trump appointee.
However, the justices reached a narrower 5-4 decision affirming that the Constitution guarantees birthright citizenship to the offspring of all immigrants.
Justice Kavanaugh expressed his disagreement, stating that Trump’s order conflicted with federal law and proposed that Congress has the authority to amend it.
