The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a closely divided ruling Tuesday, voting 5-4 to strike down President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending automatic birthright citizenship for certain children born in the United States.
Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion, with the Court concluding that the Constitution’s Citizenship Clause protects citizenship for children born on American soil even when their parents are in the country unlawfully or only on a temporary basis.
In the opinion, Roberts wrote, “Children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause,” Roberts wrote.
