The Supreme Court delivered a sharp rejection of Donald Trump's signature anti-immigration push on Tuesday, upholding birthright citizenship in a ruling that reframed the battle over one of his core agenda items. Rather than accept defeat, Trump immediately signaled he would pursue the same goal through a different route: Congress.
The court's majority found that children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present qualify as citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment. Chief Justice John Roberts joined liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, plus conservative Amy Coney Barrett, to form the majority. Conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented in full. Brett Kavanaugh split the difference, concurring with the judgment but filing a partial dissent. Thomas alone contributed nearly 90 of the ruling's 194 pages.
Trump wasted no time reframing the setback. "No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary," he declared on Truth Social. "Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship. They will have my Complete and Total Support!" He branded the court's decision "too bad for our Country."
The president had moved aggressively on his first day of his second term, signing an executive order designed to overturn birthright citizenship. That order claimed to reinterpret the Constitution rather than override it, though the legal theory faced immediate skepticism. Trump had even attended oral arguments in person when the court heard the case, marking the first time a sitting president had done so.
Stripping birthright citizenship from the nation's legal framework ranks among the most contested elements of Trump's immigration platform. His pivot to Congress suggests he views the legislative arena as fertile ground to continue pushing the issue, even as the judicial route closed. Whether congressional Republicans would embrace such an effort remains uncertain, as the proposal would require extraordinary political consensus.
Author James Rodriguez: "Trump's quick pivot to Congress shows he's not interested in accepting court losses on immigration, but selling birthright citizenship repeal to Congress is a different beast entirely."
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