US supreme court upholds birthright citizenship in blow to Trump agenda

The US supreme court has upheld birthright citizenship, which provides nearly all people born in the country with citizenship, ruling against a central piece of Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda . “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 ruling says. Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the opinion. He was joined by liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, and conservative justice Amy Coney Barrett. Conservative justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred with the judgment but dissented in part. Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch filed dissenting opinions. The court’s writings in the ruling span 194 pages, nearly 90 of which were written by Thomas in dissent. The president had issued an executive order on the first day of his second term that sought to undo birthright citizenship. The order would override the US constitution, which it cannot do, though his administration has argued the order instead interprets the constitution correctly. Trump’s order immediately drew lawsuits, including from the Democratic state attorneys general and the American Civil Liberties Union. …