The United States Supreme Court has upheld birthright citizenship in a landmark ruling reaffirming constitutional protections under the Fourteenth Amendment.

In its decision delivered on Tuesday, June 30, the court voted 5–4 to preserve birthright citizenship and, in a separate 6–3 ruling, held that President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end the automatic grant of citizenship to certain children born in the United States violated the Fourteenth Amendment.

President Trump had made restricting birthright citizenship a policy priority from his first day in office. His executive order directed federal agencies not to recognise the citizenship of children born in the United States if neither parent was a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.

The order was immediately challenged in court by civil rights organisations, which argued that it conflicted with constitutional guarantees.

Birthright citizenship, known by the legal term jus soli, is the principle that children born on U.S. soil automatically acquire American citizenship.

The right is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution through the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868 following the Civil War.

The amendment was adopted in the aftermath of the Dred Scott decision, which denied African Americans the protections of U.S. citizenship. The Supreme Court later reinforced birthright citizenship in the landmark 1898 case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which affirmed citizenship rights for children born in the United States to immigrant parents.

The United States is among at least 34 countries that recognise unrestricted birthright citizenship. Most countries in the Western Hemisphere maintain similar policies, with notable exceptions including Colombia and the Dominican Republic.

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