Supreme Court strikes down Trump order ending birthright citizenship

The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship, forcing House Speaker Mike Johnson to reckon with a defeat he called disappointing and with the next move for Republicans. Trump’s 2025 executive order would have denied citizenship at birth to children born to parents in the United States illegally or temporarily, a change analysts said could have touched about 250,000 births a year.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion in the 6-3 decision, which said the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment has long been understood to extend citizenship to almost anyone born in the United States. The ruling rested on more than a century of legal history, including United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the 1898 case that recognized birthright citizenship under the Constitution. In practical terms, the court left intact the principle that has governed American citizenship for generations.

Trump reacted by calling the ruling “too bad for the Country” and said Congress could “make it up” through legislation. Johnson said he was disappointed and indicated Congress would need to consider next steps, signaling that Republican leaders are now weighing whether to use the issue for symbolic messaging, a fresh legislative push, or a broader political campaign on immigration even though the constitutional barrier remains.

The decision landed as part of a busy final stretch at the court, which also issued rulings the same day on transgender athlete bans and federal campaign-spending limits. Immigrant-rights advocates and other supporters of birthright citizenship praised the opinion as a reaffirmation of a constitutional rule that has been settled for more than a century. Pew Research Center has noted that the U.S. model is unusual globally, with only 32 other countries having substantially similar laws.

The White House challenge began with Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025 order, issued on the first day of his second term. After the ruling, the Justice Department directed prosecutors to prioritize cases involving alleged birth tourism schemes, underscoring that the administration is still searching for enforcement avenues even after the court shut down the citizenship ban.