Birthright citizenship
Held up
The Supreme Court said the Fourteenth Amendment still covers those children. A second order was paused.
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End that practice by executive order, on the theory that those children are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States.
What happened
- The Fourteenth Amendment, as applied in Trump v. Barbara.
Executive Order 14160 tried. On June 30, 2026 the Supreme Court decided Trump v. Barbara. SCOTUSblog’s account of the opinion by Chief Justice Roberts: the Citizenship Clause reaches children born here to parents who are here illegally or temporarily. They are citizens at birth. The exceptions the Court treated as narrow are the children of foreign ministers and a historical category involving some 19th-century tribal members. A later district-court judgment cites the opinion at 146 S. Ct. 2438 and enjoins enforcement of that order.
The administration tried a narrower cut. On August 6, 2026 it issued another order. SCOTUSblog describes it as denying automatic citizenship to children of a wider set of foreign officials and workers, including international-organization employees, and to others the government tried to place outside the earlier case. On September 2, 2026, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction. She wrote that the Supreme Court had already decided the status of the children in the certified class, and that an executive order cannot undo that.
What is holding it up
The Constitution, as the current Supreme Court reads it. Congress cannot override that holding with a simple bill. The Senate’s 53 seats do not matter until either the Constitution is amended or a future Court reverses Barbara. Amendment requires two-thirds of both houses and three-quarters of the states. That is a different math problem than a filibuster, and it has not been attempted successfully.
Still ahead
- Executive Order 14160 enjoined.
- The August 6, 2026 follow-up order paused by a preliminary injunction.
Dates
Jan 20, 2025 · Order
Executive Order 14160
The first attempt to narrow birthright citizenship. Later enjoined under Trump v. Barbara.
June 30, 2026 · Court
Trump v. Barbara
Supreme Court holds the Citizenship Clause covers children born here to parents here illegally or temporarily.
Aug 6, 2026 · Order
Second order
A narrower denial of documents. Paused within a month.
Sept 2, 2026 · Court
Preliminary injunction
Judge Boardman: the new order collides with the Supreme Court’s decision.
A baby born here is still a citizen at birth on the same terms as before this term. The fight already reached the Supreme Court. The administration lost the main case.
Updated October 13, 2026.
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