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A divided Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a broad conception of birthright citizenship, rejecting President Donald Trumpâs executive order declaring that children born to people who are in the country illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.
By a six to three vote, the court struck down Trumpâs order. A bare majority of five justices, in an opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, held that the long-settled understanding of the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, makes a citizen of anyone born in the country, with very limited exceptions.
âCitizenship, then and now, was the right to have rightsâto freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to âevery free-born person in this landâ,â Roberts wrote for the court, citing congressional debate over the amendment. âWe keep that promise today.â A sixth justice, Brett Kavanaugh, disagreed about the constitutional ruling, but pointed to a federal law that he said broadly conveys birthright citizenship. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas would have upheld Trumpâs proposed restrictions.
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