Supreme Court Reaffirms Birthright Citizenship

June 30, 2026

On June 30th, the Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s attempt to limit birthright citizenship, meaning that almost all children born in the United States – whether to undocumented immigrants, legal immigrants, asylum seekers, etc., with very limited exceptions – will continue to be granted U.S. citizenship by birth as has been the case since the passage of the 14th Amendment.

What is Birthright Citizenship?

Birthright citizenship is the legal principle that automatically grants citizenship to almost anyone born within a country’s territory, regardless of the citizenship, nationality, legal status, ethnicity, religion, etc., of the parents, subject to limited exceptions (e.g. children of foreign diplomats, hostile occupying forces, and those born on foreign public vessels). As a country whose population growth has long relied on immigration, this principle has been key to allowing America to become one of the largest, richest and most diverse countries on earth.

Why Was Birthright Citizenship Being Contested?

When he re-entered politics late in President Obama’s 2nd term, President Trump spoke out loudly and broadly against immigration – including high-skilled immigration, family reunification, and other previously-uncontroversial forms of immigration. It was in this context of all-out opposition to immigration that President Trump targeted Birthright Citizenship. As far back as 2015, he commented about whether the children of undocumented immigrants are really U.S. citizens, frequently using the pejorative term “anchor babies” to describe such citizens.

In that same 2015 interview, President Trump brought up his desire to test Birthright Citizenship in court, wanting to “find out whether or not anchor babies are citizens because a lot of people don’t think they are,” adding, “we’re going to test it out.” His first term finished without such a test, but he made sure that his second term wouldn’t end the same way, issuing an executive order that attempted to end Birthright Citizenship, by fiat, on day one of his second term. That order was immediately challenged in court, and was never put into effect. With the Supreme Court’s ruling, it now never will be.

What Did the Supreme Court Decide?

On a 6-3 decision (with conservatives Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barret joining the three liberal justices in the majority), the Supreme Court struck down the Trump executive order that had sought to end Birthright Citizenship. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts wrote:

“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community. The framers of the 14th Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land. We keep that promise today.”

With that decision, Birthright citizenship will continue to be the law of the land, as it has been since 1868.

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