Immigration Update: SCOTUS Upholds Birthright Citizenship

ALBANY, NY | On June 30, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Executive Order 14160 in a 6-3 decision in Trump v. Barbara. President Trump’s January 20, 2025, executive order provided that babies born in the United States to parents who are here illegally or temporarily would not automatically receive citizenship. The Court’s decision upheld birthright citizenship as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.

Timeline Leading Up to the Decision

This ruling has been a long time coming. When President Trump issued Executive Order 14160, it was scheduled to take effect 30 days after he signed it. Instead, multiple federal judges across the country blocked its enforcement while the order was challenged in court.

In May 2025, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on a separate but related question: whether lower courts had the authority to issue nationwide injunctions, orders that barred enforcement of the executive order everywhere, not just for the parties in a given case. In Trump v. CASA, the Supreme Court ruled that lower courts generally could not issue those broad injunctions.

Later that year, a federal judge in New Hampshire found a way around that limitation. U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante issued a preliminary injunction covering a defined class, specifically, babies born after February 20, 2025, who would have been denied citizenship under the order. Judge Laplante concluded that the executive order likely contradicted both the text of the Fourteenth Amendment and more than a century of precedent interpreting it.

The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court on September 26, 2025, asking the justices to review Judge Laplante’s ruling. The Court agreed to hear the case on December 5, 2025, and oral argument took place on April 1, 2026.

The Decision Itself

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion in Trump v. Barbara, joined by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Barrett, and Jackson. The Court concluded, consistent with every lower court that had already ruled on the issue, that Executive Order 14160 could not be reconciled with the Fourteenth Amendment, which states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” Roberts wrote that children born to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present in the United States “satisfy both elements of the Citizenship Clause” and are citizens at birth.

 Justices Thomas, Alito, Kavanaugh, and Gorsuch dissented from the Court’s constitutional holding.

Roberts closed the opinion with a line that’s already being widely quoted: “Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights, to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to every free-born person in this land. We keep that promise today.”

The full decision is available here.

This blog post is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The information provided is current as of the date of publication and is subject to change. Consult with a qualified attorney regarding your specific situation.

Immigration law touches families, employers, and individuals navigating some of the most complex areas of federal policy. The Towne Law Firm, P.C. represents both employers and individuals through every stage of the immigration process, from work visas to naturalization matters.