The Supreme Court of the United States on Tuesday considered illegal the executive order of President Donald Trump to limit the citizenship of people born in the United States as children of undocumented parents or with temporary visas, a right that the court considers enshrined in the Constitution.
The ruling recognizes that “children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are ‘subject to the jurisdiction'” so “are citizens from birth under the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
The decision was adopted by five votes in favor and four against by the judges who make up the court and maintains an interpretation of the Constitution that for more than 150 years considers American almost any person – there are exceptions such as the children of diplomatic officials – who is born within the nation.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh dissented in part by not sharing the maximalist conception of the citizenship clause while not endorsing Trump’s executive order that would de facto eliminate birthright citizenship.
Three other judges considered conservative dissented from the majority vote by not recognizing “fully” automatic birthright citizenship.
Trump had promised during his campaign to limit automatic citizenship for children of irregular migrants, a measure that he signed the same day he assumed his second term on January 20, 2025 and that inaugurated a period of restrictive anti-immigration policies.
The order, which would affect about 255,000 children a yearis annulled with today’s decision by the Supreme Court, which analyzes in the ruling what it means to be a US citizen and concludes “that someone born in the United States and subject to its laws falls within the scope of citizenship by birth.”
The tenant of the White House attended the public session of the Supreme Court last April in which the legality of the order was debated, the first time that a sitting US president attended oral arguments before the high court.
The American president has argued that the Fourteenth Amendment has been misinterpreted and has assured that the United States is the only country that grants the right of citizenship automatically when on its soil, a false argument, since thirty countries around the world also recognize that right.
Trump has claimed that the Fourteenth Amendment, which was passed after the Civil War to correct the “Dred Scott v. Sanford” ruling of 1857 and guarantee citizenship to former slaves and their descendants, was only intended to grant citizenship “to children of slaves.”
Yes, it supports trans athletes not competing on women’s teams
Bandera trans
But it hasn’t all been bad news for Trump. The Supreme Court has endorsed prohibiting transgender athletes from participating in women’s teams in school and university competitions, concluding that these regulations do not violate the Constitution.
In a 6-3 decision, the justices decided to uphold the laws of West Virginia and Idaho by considering that states can establish sports categories differentiated by biological gender in schools and that these restrictions are compatible with Title IX, the historic federal legislation that prohibits gender discrimination in publicly funded educational programs.
The high court ruled that States can limit participation in women’s teams to “biological women”, That is, athletes whose gender assigned at birth is female, even when they are trans people who identify as women and receive hormonal therapies.
The case arose from a lawsuit by two trans athletes, Becky Pepper-Jackson, a high school student from West Virginia, and Lindsay Hecox, a student at the University of Idaho, who argued that their exclusion from women’s competitions was unconstitutional and discriminatory.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, author of the majority opinion, held that “physical differences between men and women such as strength, speed and endurance” justify the existence of teams separated by biological gender. “Every biological male who manages to get on the team occupies a place that would correspond to a female athlete,” he insisted.
The decision will have repercussions throughout the United States, as it affects the participation of trans athletes in school and university competitions and supports similar regulations approved in 25 other states.
The case is part of the offensive promoted by the Administration of President Donald Trump against the rights of transgender people.
The president celebrated the decision this Tuesday with a message on his Truth Social network: “Big victory: The Supreme Court of the United States just ruled against men competing in women’s sports. Wow! That takes that ridiculous situation out of the equation!”
After returning to power in January 2025, Trump signed an executive order that establishes the recognition of only two genders, male and female, and mandates that official documents reflect the gender assigned at birth, a measure that was challenged by LGBTI rights organizations.
