Supreme Court deals major blow to Trump, upholds birthright citizenship in 6-3 ruling

The U.S. The Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to parents who are in the country temporarily or unlawfully.

The decision announced on Tuesday, June 30, finally announced a 6-3 decision, upholding 14th Amendment.

Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Convey Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. The ruling affirms the long-standing interpretation of the 14th amendment’s citizenship clause stating: “all persons born or naturalised in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.”

This originates from a class-action lawsuit filed by the ACLU challenging the president’s executive order signed on the first day of his second term. In April, the administrator’s top lawyer, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, faced a barrage of skeptical questions from the justices during the oral arguments.

Chief justice John Roberts questioned the administration’s legal reasoning, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett pressed the government on practical implications for abandoned infants, asking, “What about the constitution?”

Earlier, the court has decided in the favour of Trump in separate rulings that have largely expanded presidential power. On Monday, June 29, the court handed Trump a major win by upholding his authority to fire the heads of independent federal agencies at will.