{"id":48963,"date":"2026-07-01T12:01:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T19:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48963"},"modified":"2026-07-01T12:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T19:01:16","slug":"supreme-court-blocking-trump-birthright-citizen-attack-a-real-relief-but-also-bare-minimum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/07\/01\/supreme-court-blocking-trump-birthright-citizen-attack-a-real-relief-but-also-bare-minimum\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Blocking Trump Birthright Citizen Attack a \u2018Real Relief,\u2019 But Also \u2018Bare Minimum\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Demonstrators rally in support of birthright citizenship outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC on April 1, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Kent Nishimura\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBirthright citizenship is protected today. But the workers whose children depend on it still face deportation, worksite raids, and an administration that has made clear it will use every tool available to make immigrant workers afraid, isolated, and stripped of their rights,\u201d said one campaigner.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jun 30, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US Supreme Court<\/a> on Tuesday struck down President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order that sought to deny automatic citizenship to children<\/a> born in the United States<\/a> to undocumented parents, preserving 150 years of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment<\/a> and dealing a major blow to the administration\u2019s xenophobic agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChildren born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are \u2018subject to the jurisdiction\u2019 of the United States and are citizens at birth under the 14th Amendment\u2019s citizenship clause,\u201d the high court held in Trump v. Barbara<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"TishJames<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

State AGs Applaud Court Blocking \u2018Unconstitutional\u2019 Trump Proof of Citizenship Voting Requirement<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Asylum<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018More People Will Die\u2019: Sotomayor Reads Searing Dissent as Supreme Court Lets Trump Block Asylum Seekers<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The 6-3 decision roundly rejected an executive order<\/a> issued by Trump on the first day of his second term that sought to deny US citizenship for babies born in the United States to parents who are either unlawfully in the United States or legally living in the country on temporary visas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every lower court rejected the order. Just three days after its issuance, US District Judge John Coughenour, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan<\/a>, blasted it as \u201cblatantly unconstitutional<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A majority of the right-wing<\/a> Supreme Court<\/a> agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCitizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights\u2014to freely participate in our political community. The framers of the 14th Amendment extended that promise to \u2018every free-born person in this land,\u2019\u201d Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court. \u201cWe keep that promise today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roberts was joined in the majority by Justices Sonia Sotomayor<\/a>, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett<\/a>, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh<\/a> writing a separate concurring opinion agreeing that Trump\u2019s executive order was unlawful but basing his reasoning on federal immigration<\/a> law rather than the 14th Amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs revealed by the court\u2019s opinion with its detailed account of history and precedent, and by the weighty and thoughtful dissents, the constitutional issue is far more complicated than the statutory issue,\u201d Kavanaugh wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justices Samuel Alito<\/a>, Clarence Thomas<\/a>, and Neil Gorsuch<\/a> dissented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is one of the most important decisions in the history of the court, and in my judgment, the court has made a serious mistake,\u201d Alito wrote in his dissent. \u201cAs interpreted by the court today, the 14th Amendment confers citizenship on virtually everyone who happens to be born in this country, including the children of \u2018birth tourists,\u2019 women who come here solely for the purpose of giving birth to a child and then promptly return home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alito further argued that the 14th Amendment \u201cconfers citizenship on only those children who, at birth, owe allegiance solely to this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a 91-page dissent more than three times longer than Roberts\u2019 opinion, Thomas wrote that \u201cthe court adds to the sad history of the 14th Amendment, which was designed and understood to secure equal rights for the freed Blacks but has instead been repurposed for political projects that the Reconstruction Congress did not support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump took to his Truth Social network to lament<\/a>, \u201cThe Supreme Court upheld Birthright Citizenship, which is too bad for our Country, but we can easily make it up in Congress through Legislation, with the support of the President, that has now been determined during this process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary!\u201d he added. \u201cCongress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship. They will have my Complete and Total Support!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Miller<\/a>, Trump\u2019s xenophobic deputy chief of staff, seethed<\/a> on X that Trump v. Barbara<\/em> is \u201cone of the most destructive and outrageous decisions in the long history of the Supreme Court.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAmerican citizenship is not the birthright of the world,\u201d the white nationalist added. \u201cIt belongs only and solely to Americans. No provision of the Constitution can be read to require our national self-obliteration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defenders of birthright citizenship and the Constitution welcomed the ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Supreme Court affirmed what we know in our hearts and in our communities: The 14th Amendment extends the promise of citizenship to everyone born in the US Immigrants belong,\u201d Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (D-Ill.), a birthright citizen, said<\/a> on Bluesky. \u201cNo one can deny that immigrants today are also the inheritors of the promise of America\u2014just like so many of my colleagues\u2019 ancestors were.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BlueSky: https:\/\/embed.bsky.app\/embed\/did:plc:kp5qfcszvb73kuoc35hydd6i\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mpjeluh6xk2a?id=11711926964999286&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.commondreams.org%252Fnews%252Fsupreme-court-birthright-citizenship-2677134238&colorMode=system<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar<\/a> (D-Minn.), a former refugee from Somalia<\/a>, said<\/a> on social media<\/a>: \u201cThe Supreme Court just upheld birthright citizenship, blocking Trump\u2019s attempt to dismantle the 14th Amendment and strip away a constitutional guarantee. If you were born here, you are an American citizen. The Constitution is clear. No one can change that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick called<\/a> the decision \u201cthe easiest of layups possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Wolf, director of democracy<\/a> initiatives at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, said that \u201cthe court could not have defensibly ruled any differently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe 14th Amendment guaranteed citizenship to everyone born here over 150 years ago,\u201d he added. \u201cThe Supreme Court affirmed that 20 years later in\u00a0Wong Kim Ark<\/a><\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/i\/broadcasts\/1OxwbbZavMoJB<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACLU national legal director Cecilia Wang, a birthright citizen who argued the case before the Supreme Court, said the decision \u201creaffirms a fundamental American promise\u2014if you are born here, you are a citizen. A president cannot change the Constitution by executive fiat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neidi Dominguez, executive director of the multiracial advocacy group Organized Power in Numbers, said that \u201ctoday the Supreme Court reaffirmed a constitutional right that should never have been in question.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBirthright citizenship was guaranteed through the passage of the 14th Amendment after the Civil War, when formerly enslaved Africans and their allies fought to access equal rights and affirm that children born in the United States have citizenship regardless of where their parents come from,\u201d she noted. \u201cThat right survives today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut let us be clear about what happened here,\u201d Dominguez continued. \u201cThe Trump administration<\/a> tried to narrow the definition of citizenship and the access to the rights that come with it, and even this Supreme Court disagreed. This is a real relief, and it is welcome. It is also the bare minimum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe same court that today defended birthright citizenship last week stripped legal protections from more than 350,000 Haitian and Syrian workers<\/a> with [temporary protected status] and opened the door to doing the same to up to 1.3 million people,\u201d she said. \u201cEarlier this term, it cleared the way for mass layoffs of tens of thousands of federal workers<\/a>. Working people are not safe because one constitutional right survived. They are fighting on every front.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBirthright citizenship is protected today. But the workers whose children depend on it still face deportation, worksite raids, and an administration that has made clear it will use every tool available to make immigrant workers afraid, isolated, and stripped of their rights,\u201d Dominguez added. \u201cEmployers cannot stay silent while the workers they depend on are stripped of their rights one ruling at a time. We are not done fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X post: https:\/\/x.com\/ImmDef\/status\/2071986054190530694?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2071986054190530694%7Ctwgr%5Edb27201854e2781b028b3a514d4739726d159d52%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fsupreme-court-birthright-citizenship-2677134238<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virginia<\/a> Kase Solom\u00f3n, president and CEO of the pro-democracy group Common Cause, issued a statement<\/a> saying, \u201cWhile we welcome the court finally upholding a constitutional amendment ratified nearly two centuries ago, upholding the law is no cause for celebration, it is a requirement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet today be a stark reminder that this court continues to systematically dismantle voting protections for Black and brown communities, tilting the scales of justice toward a dark era where a wealthy, privileged few dictate the rules for the rest of us,\u201d she added. \u201cToday may be a brief victory for the rule of law<\/a>, but our fight to protect our multiracial democracy continues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wolf at the Brennan Center said that \u201ctoday\u2019s ruling is the right one amid an avalanche of Supreme Court opinions undermining our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn just the past few weeks alone, the court further undermined the Voting Rights<\/a> Act, encouraged more aggressive partisan gerrymandering<\/a>, dangerously expanded presidential power over federal agencies, and further depleted protections for immigrants,\u201d he noted. \u201cThis ruling does not make up for all the damage the court has done this term.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, the court also ruled that states may ban transgender girls from participating in sports at schools receiving public funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Demonstrators rally in support of birthright citizenship outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC on April 1, 2026. \u00a0(Photo by Kent Nishimura\/AFP via Getty Images) \u201cBirthright citizenship is protected today. But the workers whose children depend on it still face deportation, worksite raids, and an administration that has made… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1879],"tags":[2134],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48963"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48963"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48964,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48963\/revisions\/48964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}