The US Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to limit birthright citizenship, rejecting one of the administration’s key immigration measures introduced at the start of his second term.In a closely watched decision delivered on the final day of its term, the court ruled 6-3 to uphold birthright citizenship for nearly everyone born on US soil.The US president had sought to reinterpret the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, ending the automatic grant of citizenship to most people born in the United States, a principle in place since 1868.Trump had described the existing policy as “a disgrace,” while Vice President JD Vance had previously called it “the dumbest immigration policy in the world.”The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution states: “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.”For more than a century, courts and successive US administrations have interpreted this provision to mean that children born in the United States automatically acquire US citizenship, regardless of their parents’ immigration status, as cited by DW.There are limited exceptions, including children born to foreign diplomats or members of invading enemy forces. The Trump administration has argued that the long-standing interpretation of the 14th Amendment was incorrect, contending that children born to noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and are therefore not automatically entitled to US citizenship.The executive order would have affected more than 250,000 babies born in the United States each year, according to estimates. The issue has also drawn attention because several members of Trump’s inner circle, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, FBI Director Kash Patel and Second Lady Usha Vance, are children of immigrants who benefited from birthright citizenship.
