The Supreme Court today reaffirmed that children born in the United States are automatically citizens, regardless of whether their parents are here unlawfully or temporarily.
The 6-3 ruling in Trump v Barbara marks the final nail in the coffin of President Trump’s executive order in which he attempted to end birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.
Shortly after it was first issued in January 2025, the Executive Order was blocked by a lower court’s preliminary injunction before it could take effect. The Trump administration appealed the case all the way to the highest court, arguing that the children of parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present lack the “allegiance” to the United States necessary for the protection of the Citizenship Clause.
However, the Court was not persuaded. “Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights – to freely participate in our political community,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. “The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ … We keep that promise today.”
If the Supreme Court had ruled the other way, the restored Executive Order was expected to have several practical impacts on employers, including increased visa sponsorship costs and a chilling effect on the number of foreign nationals willing to work in the US on temporary employment-based visas.
