Trump Now Shifts Birthright Citizenship Fight to Congress

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is urging Congress to pursue a path the Supreme Court refused to open, calling on lawmakers to end birthright citizenship after the justices struck down his executive order restricting the constitutional guarantee. Posting on Truth Social, Trump said Congress should act immediately, insisting legislation—not another executive order—can accomplish what the court rejected.

Trump argued that the Fourteenth Amendment was written to protect the children of formerly enslaved people rather than everyone born on American soil. He urged lawmakers to begin work immediately and promised his "Complete and Total Support" for any legislative effort aimed at ending automatic citizenship for children born to non-citizen parents.

Constitutional scholars have long argued that birthright citizenship is rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment and reinforced by more than a century of Supreme Court precedent. As reported by Reuters, many legal experts say Congress cannot override that constitutional interpretation through ordinary legislation, making any attempt to change the policy through a simple statute vulnerable to immediate constitutional challenges.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the Citizenship Clause protects nearly everyone born within the United States regardless of a parent's immigration status. The majority concluded that constitutional guarantees cannot be narrowed through executive action, preserving a legal principle that has guided federal citizenship law since the court's landmark 1898 ruling in *United States v. Wong Kim Ark*.

Trump's latest appeal shifts the battle from the courtroom to Capitol Hill, where supporters of tighter immigration policies have periodically introduced bills seeking to reinterpret birthright citizenship. Even if lawmakers approved such legislation, opponents would almost certainly challenge it in federal court because Congress cannot supersede constitutional protections through a standard act of legislation.

All eyes now turn to Congress as Trump presses lawmakers to pursue a legislative route after the Supreme Court shut down his executive order. The justices closed one avenue for changing birthright citizenship, but Trump's latest strategy signals the constitutional and political fight is far from over.