President Donald Trump is already looking toward Congress after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his executive order aimed at ending automatic birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to illegal immigrants and certain temporary visa holders.
The high court handed down a 6-3 decision Tuesday, ruling that Trump’s executive action conflicted with the Constitution’s Citizenship Clause. While the decision represents a setback for one of the administration’s major immigration priorities, Trump quickly indicated that he believes lawmakers—not the courts—may ultimately deliver the changes he has long sought.
The executive order, signed on Trump’s first day back in the White House for his second term, sought to significantly narrow the circumstances under which children born on American soil would automatically receive U.S. citizenship. The administration argued that the Fourteenth Amendment had been interpreted too broadly for decades and that Congress had authority to clarify the law.
