The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a landmark case that will determine whether certain children born on American soil have a constitutional right to citizenship.
On his first day back in office in January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for children born to parents who are in the country illegally or on temporary visas. Multiple lower courts blocked the order, prompting the administration to appeal to the Supreme Court. A hearing date has not yet been scheduled, and a decision is expected to take months.
For nearly 160 years, the 14th Amendment has guaranteed citizenship to anyone born in the United States—except children of foreign diplomats or occupying military forces. The Trump administration, however, argues that the clause “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” excludes the children of those who are not lawfully or permanently present in the country.
Cecillia Wang, national legal director of the ACLU, which is representing the plaintiffs, said no president has the authority to alter the Constitution’s guarantee.
“For over 150 years, it has been the law and our national tradition that everyone born on U.S. soil is a citizen from birth,” she said, adding that the ACLU is confident the Supreme Court will reaffirm this principle.
Roughly 30 countries—mostly in the Americas—offer birthright citizenship. In the US, an estimated 250,000 babies were born to undocumented immigrant parents in 2016, a number that has steadily declined since its peak in 2007. By 2022, the US had around 1.2 million citizens born to unauthorized immigrant parents, according to Pew Research Center.
The case carries major implications for both US immigration policy and the definition of American citizenship. A recent study by the Migration Policy Institute and Penn State University suggested that repealing birthright citizenship could increase the unauthorized population by 2.7 million by 2045, and by 5.4 million by 2075.
The 14th Amendment was enacted after the Civil War to secure citizenship for formerly enslaved people. However, US Solicitor General D. John Sauer argues its framers did not intend to extend citizenship to the children of temporary visitors or those in the country illegally.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that lower courts exceeded their authority by issuing nationwide injunctions against Trump’s order—but the ruling did not address the constitutional question itself. The upcoming case will now decide that issue directly, potentially reshaping the nation’s immigration landscape.
