Republicans reacted to Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling on birthright citizenship by issuing warnings of its consequences – and spelling out their plans to address them.
With its 5-4 ruling on Trump v. Barbara, the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order declaring that children of illegal aliens and foreign nationals temporarily in the country are not citizens of America simply because they are born on U.S. soil.
The issue addressed by the Supreme Court is summarized in its ruling:
“The question presented is whether the Constitution guarantees citizenship to children born in the United States of parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present in the country. Under the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, ‘[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.’”
In his executive order, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” Pres. Trump cited the 14th Amendment:
“The Fourteenth Amendment has always excluded from birthright citizenship persons who were born in the United States but not ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’ Consistent with this understanding, the Congress has further specified through legislation that ‘a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ is a national and citizen of the United States at birth, 8 U.S.C. 1401, generally mirroring the Fourteenth Amendment’s text.”
Thus, children born in the U.S. to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily in the country are not automatically granted citizenship, the executive order states.
Lawsuits and stays granted by several federal judges across the U.S. prohibited the Trump administration from enforcing the order while challenges to it moved forward in court.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court settled the case by striking down the executive order and granting citizenship to anyone born in the U.S., regardless of parental status:
“Held: Children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.”
“Birth tourism is a thriving industry that mocks American citizenship, and today the Court let it stand,” Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) warned a social media post reacting to the decision and promising that “This fight is not over. Not even close.”
“The American people deserve a citizenship system that cannot be gamed by anyone with a plane ticket. Congress needs to act and I will lead that fight,” the congresswoman wrote in another post.
“Giving citizenship to the offspring of illegals incentivizes illegal immigration,” House Republicans warned on their @HouseGOP X.com page.
“This ruling is the final alarm bell,” Missouri Republican Senator Eric Schmitt wrote, stressing the vital need to properly confer and limit U.S. citizenship:
“Citizenship is more than paperwork issued by the government. It is more than a bureaucratic label that grants access to government programs. Citizenship is the covenantal bond between a nation and its people.”
….
“Citizenship defines the political community that governs the United States.”
….
“If we lose control of citizenship, we lose control of self-government itself.”
“Under the Supreme Court’s decision, citizenship no longer reflects allegiance or loyalty to a country and its laws. It becomes an administrative status to be seized by interlopers,” Sen. Schmitt warned, vowing to pursue a constitutional amendment to protect the sanctity of citizenship:
“Accordingly, I will be announcing a forthcoming constitutional amendment to restore the sacred bond between American citizens and their government.”
Sen. Schmitt said his amendment will reflect the language in the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which states that “any person born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power” would be granted birthright citizenship.
“Our generation’s existential threat is a hostile takeover through mass migration,” Schmitt warned:
“The Supreme Court’s decision constitutionalizing unlimited birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens and temporarily present aliens is wrong—and disastrous for our sovereignty and the future of our republic.
“The decision exposes America to grave national security risks and threatens to erode the integrity of the core of American self-government: citizenship.”
While “Today is a sad day in the history of our republic,” Sen. Schmitt wrote, the nation will survive and overcome the threats created by Tuesday’s decision, thanks to the efforts and faith of patriots:
“But America and the Constitution have survived for 250 years because each generation has had patriots who, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, valiantly fought back the existential threats this great nation has faced.”
