The Supreme Court blocked the decree removing the law ‘born in the US is an American citizen’

The US Supreme Court today issued a ruling with a ratio of 6 votes in favor and 3 votes against, which maintained the rule that nearly everyone born in US territory has the right to American citizenship.

President Donald Trump on January 20, 2025 signed an executive order that the federal government will not issue passports, certificates of citizenship or other documents to children whose mothers are in the United States illegally or temporarily, and whose fathers are not US citizens or permanent residents.

Lower courts blocked the move, holding that nearly everyone born in the United States is an American citizen under the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment. A majority of Supreme Court justices concurred with this view.

“Children born in the United States to parents illegally or temporarily present in the country remain ‘under the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment,” Supreme Justice John Roberts stated in the ruling.

In an unprecedented move for a sitting US President, Mr. Trump in April directly attended a debate at the Supreme Court on the issue of birthright citizenship. He listened to the presentation of Solicitor General John Sauer, who represented the government, but did not participate in the argument of lawyer Cecillia Wang, who defended the principle of birthright citizenship.

Mr. Sauer argued that maintaining the right to unlimited birthright citizenship has encouraged illegal immigration and the phenomenon of coming to the US to give birth in order to gain citizenship for their children.

The 14th Amendment that the US Congress ratified in 1868 states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to its jurisdiction, are citizens of the United States and the state in which they reside”. This policy was intended to ensure that the children of slaves brought to the United States against their will were recognized as American citizens.

This right has been applied to all children born in the US since then, regardless of whether the child’s parents are illegal immigrants or came to the US on tourist or student visas.

However, Mr. Trump and his allies have always considered this a “ridiculous regulation” for many years, promoting many people to come to the US illegally or “birth tourism”. They emphasize that this right is being abused and it is necessary to tighten the conditions for becoming an American citizen.

The Trump administration argues that the 14th Amendment, which addresses citizenship for freed slaves, does not apply to the children of undocumented immigrants or those who come to the United States on a short-term basis.

Mr. Trump’s order is based on the notion that people who are in the US illegally or are staying on a visa are not under US “jurisdiction”, so their children do not automatically have citizenship.

However, the US Supreme Court rejected this interpretation in its landmark 1898 ruling regarding Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco in 1873 to a family of immigrants from China.

After his return trip to China, Wong Kim Ark was denied entry back to America in 1895 under the Chinese Exclusion Act. However, the Supreme Court then concluded that he was an American citizen because he was born in US territory.