Birthright and Sports Rulings

The Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship and rejected President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that those children are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States under the 14th Amendment, preserving a constitutional rule that has stood for more than 150 years and delivering a major defeat to Trump’s immigration agenda. Conservative dissenters, including Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, argued the majority relied on a flawed historical understanding and devalued citizenship, while Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson sharply defended the post-Civil War amendment’s broad guarantee. Trump, Vice President JD Vance and congressional Republicans quickly urged legislation or a constitutional amendment to narrow the right, but critics said the ruling reaffirmed a bedrock principle even as the close vote signaled future fights.