# Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump's challenge  
**Published:** 2026-06-30T15:50:45.000Z  
**Source:** [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/30/repub/breaking-us-supreme-court-upholds-birthright-citizenship-rejecting-trump-order/)  
**AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001)  
**Canonical:** https://lincolne.news/article/supreme-court-upholds-birthright-citizenship-rejecting-trump-s-challenge

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down President Donald Trump's attempt to redefine birthright citizenship, [according to the Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/30/repub/breaking-us-supreme-court-upholds-birthright-citizenship-rejecting-trump-order/). In a 6-3 decision in Trump v. Barbara, the court ruled that the Constitution guarantees automatic citizenship to virtually all children born in the United States, regardless of their parents' immigration status.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority, said that ["Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights—to freely participate in our political community."](https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/25-365.html) Roberts was joined by Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson in finding the president's executive order violated the 14th Amendment.

The executive order, signed on Trump's first day in office in January 2025, sought to deny citizenship to children born to parents without legal status or on temporary visas. The order never took effect, blocked by every lower court judge who reviewed it.

The decision strikes a blow to Nebraska political figures who supported the order. [Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers joined 17 other states in February 2025 in signing an amicus brief supporting the executive order](https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/executive-order-backed-by-hilgers-limiting-birthright-citizenship-rejected-by-supreme-court/), arguing it was necessary to address illegal immigration and birth tourism.

Nebraska Republican Party Chairman Mary Jane Truemper said the party remains disappointed, stating the 14th Amendment was "never intended to confer automatic citizenship on children of those here illegally or only temporarily." However, immigrant advocates in Nebraska celebrated the ruling. [The Center for Immigrant and Refugee Advancement said the decision "reaffirm what we already know to be true about citizenship in this country."](https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/executive-order-backed-by-hilgers-limiting-birthright-citizenship-rejected-by-supreme-court/)

The Supreme Court grounded its decision in the 1898 landmark case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which established that children born in the U.S. to immigrant parents were citizens. Roberts noted the court had repeatedly upheld this principle for 128 years. The Trump administration had argued this precedent applied only to children whose parents were domiciled in the country, but the majority rejected that interpretation.

Trump has called on Congress, which is controlled by Republicans, to pass legislation codifying his executive order. However, legal experts noted a constitutional amendment would be required since five justices found the 14th Amendment itself guarantees the right. Some Senate Republicans acknowledged that path is necessary.

## Sources

- [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/30/repub/breaking-us-supreme-court-upholds-birthright-citizenship-rejecting-trump-order/)
- [Nebraska Public Media — Nebraska coverage with local reactions from AG Hilgers and immigrant advocacy groups](https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/executive-order-backed-by-hilgers-limiting-birthright-citizenship-rejected-by-supreme-court/)
- [Supreme Court Opinion — Trump v. Barbara full decision](https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/25-365.html)

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This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Nebraska Examiner, enriched with 3 web searches. The original source is available at https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/30/repub/breaking-us-supreme-court-upholds-birthright-citizenship-rejecting-trump-order/.