Trump tells Congress to limit birthright citizenship after Supreme Court blow

President Donald Trump on Tuesday called on Congress to limit birthright citizenship after the Supreme Court issued a ruling rejecting his push to overhaul the policy.

Trump’s position puts him at odds with several leading lawmakers in the Republican Party, who called for a constitutional amendment to limit birthright citizenship after the justices handed down the 6-3 ruling. The president said that the “long and unwieldy” constitutional amendment strategy, pushed by Republicans ranging from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), was “unnecessary,” and urged Congress to take up the matter otherwise.

“The Supreme Court upheld Birthright Citizenship, which is too bad for our Country, but we can easily make it up in Congress through Legislation, with the support of the President, that has now been determined during this process,” he said in a post to Truth Social. “Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship. They will have my Complete and Total Support!”

Trump’s demand comes after Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who voted against the president in the ruling, noted that Congress reserves the right to pass legislation changing the law.

“Congress could—consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment—amend §1401(a) or otherwise enact new legislation establishing exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to foreign citizens unlawfully or temporarily in the country,” he wrote. “But Congress has not yet done so.”

The president previewed his take earlier on Tuesday, when he reposted an article on Truth Social highlighting a bill in Congress that seeks to restrict birthright citizenship. The legislation from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) would reinterpret the 14th Amendment to grant citizenship at birth only to children with at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, similar to Trump’s position. 

The debate sparked when Trump issued an executive order in January. 2025 seeking to restrict birthright citizenship. After the decision faced a litany of lawsuits, the Supreme Court agreed to take up the case in December. The issue was of such importance to Trump that he became the first sitting U.S. president in April to attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court. He predicted in May that justices would rule against him, alleging “our Court System is RIGGED.” 

The president and his allies have argued that the Fourteenth Amendment was originally created in the context of freeing slaves, and that its use in modern times has primarily come from illegal immigrants taking advantage of the system. Under Trump’s plan, birthright citizenship would not extend to children born on U.S. soil if both parents are in the country illegally or on a temporary basis, such as on a visa. His order would require at least one of the parents to be either a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident for the baby to receive automatic citizenship.

A coalition of Republican-led states, led by Tennessee and Iowa, have backed Trump’s stance, arguing that it is “seriously mistaken” to believe the Fourteenth Amendment gives children of illegal immigrants birthright citizenship. 

“The Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause was adopted to grant citizenship to freed slaves and their children—not to children of temporarily present aliens or illegal aliens,” the DOJ said in its brief to the Supreme Court.

Justices appeared for the most part skeptical of the Trump administration’s reasoning, with Chief Justice John Roberts questioning the DOJ’s use of “quirky” examples of people excluded from birthright citizenship, such as the children of foreign diplomats, to justify excluding broad groups of people, such as illegal immigrants.