The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected President Donald Trump's attempt to restrict birthright citizenship in the United States. In a 6-3 ruling, the court struck down an executive order that sought to end automatic citizenship for children born in the country to parents who are in the U.S. illegally or on temporary visas.
President Trump signed the executive order on the first day of his second term, making the restriction a top priority in his crackdown on immigration. While his administration argued the order interpreted the Constitution correctly, the court found that the move sought to override constitutional guarantees.
The justices relied on the U.S. Constitution and recent federal laws to rule that nearly all people born on U.S. soil are citizens, with very limited exceptions. President Trump personally attended oral arguments in the case, underscoring his staunch opposition to granting automatic citizenship to the babies of many immigrants.
The decision is a stinging defeat for the president and deals a massive blow to a central plank of his hardline anti-immigration agenda. Legal experts noted that had the court upheld the executive order, the ruling would have had sweeping political, economic, and social ramifications.