The US Supreme Court delivered a landmark ruling on Tuesday, striking down President Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship in a closely divided 5-4 decision.
Chief Justice Roberts wrote the majority opinion, which held that children born in the US to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present are still subject to the jurisdiction of the US and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause.
The ruling was joined by Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, while Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented in scathing opinions.
Justice Thomas, in particular, argued that the Supreme Court's decision is a misinterpretation of the Constitution and the history of the Fourteenth Amendment, which he claims was designed to secure equal rights for freed slaves, not grant citizenship to children of foreign nationals.
Thomas wrote that the Reconstruction Congress that drafted the Fourteenth Amendment had no intention of conferring citizenship on children born to foreign visitors or aliens, and that the Supreme Court's ruling is a "serious mistake" that undermines the concept of United States citizenship.
Justice Alito also dissented, calling the ruling a "serious mistake" and arguing that careful analysis of the text of the Fourteenth Amendment and the process that led to its adoption shows that it does not confer citizenship on children who owe allegiance to a foreign country.
Prior to the ruling, President Trump had called on Congress to act and pass legislation addressing birthright citizenship, but it remains to be seen what impact this ruling will have on the ongoing debate over immigration and citizenship in the US.
