Trump's push to end birthright citizenship hits a legal wall in US

Washington DC: The US Supreme Court has struck down President Donald Trump's executive order seeking to limit birthright citizenship, reaffirming that most children born on American soil are US citizens under the Constitution.

The US Supreme Court has rejected President Donald Trump's attempt to restrict birthright citizenship, ruling that children born in the United States remain citizens regardless of whether their parents are in the country illegally or temporarily.

In a divided decision on Tuesday, the court reaffirmed the long-standing interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to almost everyone born on US soil, with limited exceptions such as children of foreign diplomats.

Court reaffirms constitutional guarantee

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment continues to guarantee equal citizenship rights to those born in the United States.

He said the amendment, adopted after the Civil War, was intended to ensure that every free-born person in the country has the right to fully participate in American society.

Three conservative justices dissented, arguing that Trump's executive order should have been allowed to take effect.

Justice Clarence Thomas said the majority had wrongly interpreted the 14th Amendment, arguing that its original purpose was to secure equal rights for formerly enslaved Black Americans rather than broadly extending citizenship to children of temporary visitors or undocumented immigrants.

Trump's order blocked

Trump signed the executive order on the first day of his second term as part of a broader immigration crackdown. The order sought to deny automatic US citizenship to children born to parents who were in the country illegally or on temporary visas.

Several lower courts had already blocked the order before it could take effect, citing the Supreme Court's landmark 1898 Wong Kim Ark decision, which established that children born in the United States are citizens regardless of their parents' nationality.

Wider impact

According to estimates from the Migration Policy Institute and Pennsylvania State University's Population Research Institute, more than 250,000 babies born in the US each year could have been affected by the policy.

The restrictions would have applied not only to undocumented immigrants but also to people legally living in the United States on student visas, work visas or while applying for permanent residency.

The decision marks the first major Supreme Court ruling on one of Trump's immigration policies during his second term and represents a significant setback for his administration's efforts to redefine birthright citizenship through executive action.

The ruling leaves the long-standing constitutional interpretation of the 14th Amendment unchanged, ensuring that birthright citizenship remains in place across the United States.

(With AP inputs)