SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN TRUMP’S BIRTHRIGHT ORDER
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 30, 2026, that President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship order is unconstitutional, because the Fourteenth Amendment makes children born in the U.S. to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present citizens at birth. The justices affirmed a lower-court judgment out of New Hampshire in Trump v. Barbara, a case that began as a class action filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, NBC News reported.
Trump signed the order on January 20, 2025, the first day of his second term. It told federal agencies not to recognize citizenship for U.S.-born children unless at least one parent was a citizen or lawful permanent resident. Courts had kept it from taking effect, and the justices heard arguments on April 1, 2026.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion. CNBC reported the majority wrote that children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and “are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.”
Roberts also said the framers extended citizenship to “every free-born person in this land.” He ended with: “We keep that promise today.”
How the justices split
According to the Court’s opinion, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined Roberts. Jackson also wrote a concurrence. Justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred in the judgment and dissented in part, and NPR reported he agreed only that a federal statute granted automatic citizenship to children born in the United States. SCOTUSblog put the vote at 6-3.
Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch. Gorsuch and Justice Samuel Alito also wrote their own dissents. “The Court has made a serious mistake,” Alito said, CNBC reported.
The Citizenship Clause says: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” Reuters reported the principle has narrow exceptions, including children of foreign diplomats and of an enemy occupying force. Native Americans were also historically excluded until Congress granted them citizenship by statute in 1924. NPR reported that only the diplomat exception still exists.
Trump says Congress can fix it, critics say it takes an amendment
Trump took to Truth Social and said the loss could be undone through legislation. “No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary! Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship,” he wrote.
NBC News noted that changing the Constitution would take a constitutional amendment. Taryn Wilgus Null, senior counsel at the Democracy Defenders Fund, said Trump “doesn’t understand how the Supreme Court works and how the Constitution works.” She added: “The only way the Constitution can be changed is with a constitutional amendment.”
Republicans in the Senate pivoted to that route. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., announced he was introducing an amendment limiting birthright citizenship to children of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said lasting change would have to come through the amendment process. An amendment needs two-thirds of the House and Senate and then ratification by the states. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he would make the issue a top priority if he chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee the following year.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he was “very disappointed in that outcome” and that Congress would have to deal with it. On the other side, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said the court told Trump, “you do not get to decide who gets to be an American.”
Juan Proaño, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said he expected the president to “retaliate in some form or another.” The administration’s immigration push has reached other areas too, including plans to de-bank illegal immigrants.
CNBC reported that several federal district judges ruled the order violated the Constitution, and two federal appeals courts upheld injunctions blocking it.
The order remains blocked. On October 29, 2026, a nationwide order from U.S. District Judge Joseph LaPlante in New Hampshire took effect after the administration did not appeal within the week allowed, the Associated Press reported in a story carried by KRGV. The AP said the administration could still appeal or ask for the order to be narrowed, and that a Maryland judge indicated she would issue a similar order if an appeals court approved it.
