WASHINGTON, DC — THE U.S. SUPREME COURT HAS UPHELD a long-understood interpretation of birthright citizenship that is protected in the Constitution, reports the Associated Press. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who had initiated one of several lawsuits to protect birthright citizenship after President Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025 executive order to limit the 14th Amendment’s scope, issued a statementmoments after Tuesday’s widely anticipated Supreme Court decision.
The justices’ benchmark was an established understanding of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 during Reconstruction, that anyone born in the country – with limited exceptions, such as for the children of foreign diplomats – is a citizen. While the amendment itself declared freed slaves to be citizens, its protections have been augmented in federal laws since the late 19th century.
James said, “Birthright citizenship is a constitutional guarantee that has defined this nation for generations. Our country was built by immigrants, and we draw our strength from those who come here seeking a better life. Today’s ruling preserves that promise for generations to come. I am relieved for the children who will never know how close the American dream came to being taken from them, and for the families who will never have to explain to a child why the country they were born in refuses to accept them.”
Before 1924, Native Americans were also not considered U.S. citizens, because the tribes were considered to have their own political sovereignty. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans born within the United States, and also allowed them to keep their tribal rights and property.
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