Trump suffers major Supreme Court defeat as justices uphold birthright citizenship

Trump suffers major Supreme Court defeat as justices uphold birthright citizenship

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected President Donald Trump's bid to restrict birthright citizenship, preserving the long-standing constitutional interpretation that most children born in the United States are automatically U.S. citizens, including children born to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present in the country.

"Children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause," the court said.

The ruling is a major setback for Trump, who made curbing birthright citizenship a key part of his immigration agenda. The president called the decision "too bad for our Country" and said Congress "can easily make it up" with legislation prepared for this outcome.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to affirm a district court ruling blocking Trump's executive order, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining the court's three liberal justices. Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred in judgment.

The majority said the Citizenship Clause was adopted to reverse the Supreme Court's Dred Scott ruling, which denied citizenship to Black Americans, and to ensure that citizenship is determined by birth on U.S. soil.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote a separate dissent, calling the Court's ruling a "serious mistake." He suggested the Court failed to consider the rise of "birth tourism," in which foreigners come to the United States solely to give birth, and argued that it could have serious national security implications.

"The court's decision reaffirms a fundamental American promise - if you are born here, you are a citizen," said ACLU National Legal Director Cecillia Wang, who argued the case before the Supreme Court.