Reaction is rolling in after the United States Supreme Court ruled against the administration of US President Donald Trump, upholding the practice of automatically granting citizenship to nearly all individuals born in the US.
The 6-3 ruling on birthright citizenship represents a major rebuke to one of Trump’s most ambitious efforts to overhaul longstanding US immigration practices.
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The majority argued that birthright citizenship is rooted in both the US Constitution and longstanding practice dating back to English common law, rejecting the Trump administration’s assertion that it should apply only to US citizens and permanent residents.
Still, three justices sided with the Trump administration, arguing the 14th Amendment of the Constitution does not clearly grant the right to the children of all immigrants in the country.
Here’s how Trump officials, US lawmakers and advocates responded to the ruling.
Trump and his top officials
Stephen Miller, Trump’s top adviser and the architect of his hardline approach to immigration, decried the ruling as “one of the most destructive and outrageous decisions” in the history of the country’s top court.
“American citizenship is not the birthright of the world,” he wrote in a post on X. “It belongs only and solely to Americans. No provision of the Constitution can be read to require our national self-obliteration.”
Trump, meanwhile, called the decision “too bad for our country”.
In a post on his Truth Social account, he called on Congress to pass laws restricting birthright citizenship. The president maintained that there are ways to do so that would not involve an amendment to the US Constitution, which would require a two-thirds supermajority in both chambers of Congress.
However, legal experts have noted that given the justices’ emphasis on the 14th Amendment in the ruling, a constitutional amendment or, at the very least, a rehearing of the case would be required.
It is exceedingly rare for the top court to revisit cases, typically requiring a new legal theory to be put forward, although a bill passed by Congress seeking to end birthright citizenship could lay the groundwork to bring the issue back to the Supreme Court.
“Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship. They will have my Complete and Total Support!” Trump wrote.
Separately, the US Department of Justice said it will prioritise the prosecutions of so-called “birth tourism schemes across the country” following the ruling.
“Actors seeking to exploit loopholes to obtain automatic citizenship for their children automatic citizenship for their children pose a national security threat and will be brought to justice,” it said.
Rights advocates
Immigration and rights advocates have hailed the ruling as a major victory.
In a statement, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called the decision “one of the most important constitutional cases of the past 100 years”.
“The president bet his legacy trying to secure this policy win – even attending the argument in person,” Anthony Romero said in a statement, “and he lost”.
Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, called the ruling “an important victory for our democracy and the communities who courageously challenged Trump’s egregious abuse of power to rewrite the Constitution”.
“While this outcome provides welcome relief, it shows how fragile even our most foundational constitutional guarantees have become,” Matos said.
“The 14th Amendment is clear and definitive, and this decision should never have been this close.”
Elected officials
Response from elected officials has also broken down largely along party lines.
Several Republicans pledged to continue pursuing restrictions on birthright citizenship in Congress, with Senator Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, saying he will make the issue one of his top priorities in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“I will continue to push to fix this major pull factor for birth tourism and illegal immigration into the US,” he wrote on X.
Senator Eric Schmitt pointed to an opinion written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who supported the majority judgement, while arguing that birthright citizenship was not protected by the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.
Instead, Kavanaugh said Trump’s executive order ran afoul of the Immigration and Nationality Act, suggesting Congress could amend that law or write new legislation circumventing it.
Schmitt wrote that Kavanaugh “MAY have left Congress a door”.
“I’m filing legislation to walk through it. And I’ll keep working on a constitutional amendment to restore American citizenship,” he said.
Several Democrats promised to continue to oppose the Trump administration’s efforts to transform US immigration laws.
“This is personal. I am a proud son of immigrants. I was born in the United States,” Senator Alex Padilla said in a statement. “I am a proud citizen of the United States with freedom to pursue the American Dream.”
“Yet, while we celebrate this ruling today, we cannot rest,” he said. “Because this is certainly not the end of Trump’s attacks on our Constitution, our democracy, and the notion of what it means to be American.”
