Supreme Court rejects Trump effort to end birthright citizenship for millions
By John Fritze, Isabelle D’Antonio, Dan Berman
(CNN) – The Supreme Court on Tuesday knocked down Donald Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship as it has been understood for more than a century, invalidating an executive order that was a key part of the president’s agenda even though it was legally dubious from the start.
Lower courts have universally rejected Trump’s first-day order, which would deny passports and other documents to children born to parents who are not citizens or green card holders.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for a majority that included the three liberals – Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson – and conservative Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Three conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch — dissented from the decision.
Roberts in his opinion said that citizenship is “the right to have rights.” He wrote “the Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ We keep that promise today.”
However, in a biting dissent, conservative Justice Sameul Alito ripped into his colleagues. In his opinion, Alito wrote “this is one of the most important decisions in the history of the Court, and in my judgment, the court has made a serious mistake.”
The-CNN-Wire
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