US Supreme Court blocks Trump's birthright citizenship order, allows transgender sports bans

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld birthright citizenship, dealing a major legal setback to President Donald Trump by striking down his attempt to restrict automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to many immigrants.

In a 6-3 ruling, the court rejected an executive order signed by Trump on his first day back in office that sought to deny citizenship to children born in the US if neither parent was an American citizen or a lawful permanent resident.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said the order violated the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to virtually everyone born in the United States, with only limited exceptions such as children of foreign diplomats.
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” Roberts wrote. “We keep that promise today.”
The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, states that all persons born or naturalised in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens of the country.

Trump’s order had directed federal agencies not to recognise the citizenship of children born in the US if neither parent was an American citizen or a green card holder. Legal experts had estimated that the measure could have affected the status of around 250,000 babies born each year.

Several lower courts had earlier blocked the order, ruling that it was unconstitutional.

The birthright citizenship case was among a series of landmark rulings delivered on the final day of the Supreme Court’s term, which included both victories and defeats for the Trump administration.

In another major decision, the court allowed states to ban transgender students from participating in women’s and girls’ sports teams. In a separate 6-3 ruling, it also struck down federal limits on coordinated campaign spending between political parties and candidates, saying the restrictions violated First Amendment free speech protections.

The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority including three Trump appointees, also delivered several other significant rulings during its latest term, backing Trump in some cases involving presidential powers and immigration while ruling against him in others, including on tariffs, the dismissal of a Federal Reserve official and birthright citizenship.