Birthright citizenship has been one of the most fought-over questions in American law. On his first day back in office, President Trump signed an executive order attempting to end it for children of parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily — and the fight went straight to the Supreme Court.
Here's what actually happened, and why the Constitution makes birthright citizenship far harder to erase than a single executive order.
The 14th Amendment states that 'all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.'
Repealing or rewriting the 14th Amendment requires a constitutional amendment: two-thirds approval in both the House and Senate, followed by ratification from three-fourths of the states.
The modern reading of birthright citizenship traces back to the Supreme Court's 1898 decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which held that a child born on U.S. soil to non-citizen parents was a U.S. citizen at birth.
Executive orders direct how the executive branch enforces existing law; they cannot rewrite the Constitution or override an act of Congress.
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14160, seeking to deny citizenship documents to children born in the U.S. to parents who were undocumented or only temporarily present.
The order was immediately challenged in multiple federal courts, which issued injunctions blocking it from taking effect nationwide.
On June 30, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Trump v. Barbara that children born in the U.S. to unlawfully or temporarily present parents are 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States and are citizens at birth under the 14th Amendment, striking down Executive Order 14160.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the Trump v. Barbara majority opinion; Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, wrote a dissent arguing the order should have been upheld.
The U.S. system of separation of powers means the president cannot unilaterally reinterpret the Constitution — that authority rests with the courts, while amending it rests with Congress and the states.
Birthright citizenship based on place of birth (jus soli) is standard practice across most of the Western Hemisphere, including Canada and nearly all of Latin America, while many countries elsewhere grant citizenship based on parental nationality (jus sanguinis).
The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 as part of the post-Civil War Reconstruction Amendments, originally intended to guarantee citizenship to formerly enslaved people.
Following the Supreme Court's ruling, Trump shifted his strategy toward asking Congress to pass legislation curbing birthright citizenship, a path that would still require broad congressional support and likely face its own constitutional challenges.
No president in U.S. history has succeeded in ending birthright citizenship through executive action; every serious attempt has run into the courts.
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