The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled children born in the United States, including those whose parents are in the country unlawfully or only temporarily, are indeed American citizens according to the the Fourteenth Amendment, striking down President Donald Trump’s executive order.
🚨 JUST IN: Justice Clarence Thomas SLAMS the Supreme Court decision strike down President Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order
Thomas writes that the 14th Amendment “was enacted in the wake of the Civil War with the ONE pervading purpose of securing equal citizenship… https://t.co/KHTpEHAGPX pic.twitter.com/evSUjB8pqO
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) June 30, 2026
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the 6-3 majority, indicated children born to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily in the United States satisfy the amendment’s citizenship clause.
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights − to freely participate in our political community,” Roberts wrote. “The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ We keep that promise today.”
“Those children are thus subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. They satisfy both elements of the Citizenship Clause: they are ‘born … in the United States’ and ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’ Under the Constitution, they are citizens at birth.”
Roberts was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Jackson. Justice Brett Kavanaugh agrees in part in the judgment and dissents elsewhere. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissent.
In his dissent, Thomas writes the Fourteenth Amendment “was enacted in the wake of the Civil War with the one pervading purpose of securing equal citizenship for the freed slaves.”
🚨 The Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship to children born in the United States, including those whose parents are in the country unlawfully or only temporarily, striking down President Trump’s executive order. pic.twitter.com/iDns5rmqJF
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) June 30, 2026
Thomas accused the majority of “repurposing” the Fourteenth Amendment “to protect its own set of preferred rights that the Reconstruction Congress never contemplated and that cannot find support in its text.”
“Today, the Court does so again by recognizing a constitutional right to citizenship for the children of all foreign birth tourists and illegal aliens.”
“I am not sure that today’s opinion will stand the test of time. The Citizenship Clause ‘added greatly to the dignity and glory of American citizenship.’ Today’s opinion devalues that citizenship.”
“I respectfully dissent.”
Justice Samuel Alito ripped into his colleagues, saying: “This is one of the most important decisions in the history of the Court, and in my judgment, the court has made a serious mistake.”
He indicated the court’s majority ruling “preserves a powerful incentive to enter or remain in this country illegally.”
“If the Fourteenth Amendment required these results, the country would have to live with them or amend the Constitution. But the Fourteenth Amendment does not include the rule the court now imposes on the country,” Alito wrote. “In my judgment, the Court has made a mistake that will seriously affect the country’s future.”
“The Supreme Court blew it when it comes to birthright citizenship,” Charles Marino, a former Department of Homeland Security adviser, told Harris Faulkner of Fox News.
“The American people lost today, and the reason why they lost today is because our national security was ignored, the current threat landscape was ignored by the Supreme Court, and the burden to the American taxpayer was ignored, based on entitlements. We have no further to look than the Somali community in Minnesota where head of households included Somalis in the country illegally account for 87% of welfare.”
“This burden is going to be astronomical. It will continue to serve as an incentive for illegal immigration. And I predict we’re gonna see a spike in attempts at the southwest and northern borders based on this ruling alone.”
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Republicans on Capitol Hill erupt over birthright-citizenship decision
