The Supreme Court’s decision on birthright citizenship overturns an executive order stating that the children of illegal immigrants born on U.S. soil should not receive U.S. citizenship automatically.
| PULSE POINTS |
❓ WHAT HAPPENED: The U.S. Supreme Court overturned an executive order rescinding birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants on Tuesday. The policy is rooted in the 14th Amendment, which grants U.S. citizenship to almost anyone born in the U.S. The ruling was 6-3, with Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in the majority, plus Justice Brett Kavanaugh largely concurring but dissenting in part. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissented. 📺 DETAIL: Birthright citizenship is based on the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, which affirms that anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen, provided they are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country. President Donald J. Trump has strongly criticized the policy, arguing that the amendment was intended to safeguard the rights of the children of freed slaves, not to grant citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, including the children of illegal aliens. Birthright citizenship is rare beyond the Americas, with China and much of Europe basing citizenship for children born on their territory on the parents’ nationality. 🎯 IMPACT: By ruling that anyone born on U.S. soil, short of a handful of narrow exceptions such as the children of diplomats, must be granted U.S. citizenship, the Supreme Court has incentivized illegal immigrants to have so-called “anchor babies” in order to hinder their removal. The Trump administration now has few avenues to alter the status quo beyond pushing for a constitutional amendment, which would be very difficult to pass, given strong Democrat resistance to denying the children of illegal aliens citizenship. Some legislative efforts are underway to pass bills reinterpreting the 14th Amendment as not applying to the children of illegal immigrants, but even if these were to pass both congressional chambers, they would likely end up back before the Supreme Court. 📺 FLASHBACK: The Supreme Court first affirmed birthright citizenship in the Wong Kim Ark case in 1898, concerning a child born in the U.S. to Chinese parents. The justices decided that, because they were “subjects of the Emperor of China” but “not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity under the Emperor of China,” the child should be deemed a U.S. citizen by right of his birth on U.S. soil. The executive order the justices ruled on today sought to remove that right from the children of foreign nationals not lawfully present in the U.S. Birthright citizenship is not typical globally, with most jurisdictions requiring that parents must be citizens of a country to pass citizenship to their children. |
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