Republicans on Capitol Hill split Tuesday over how to respond after the Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship through his Day 1 executive order, The Hill reported.
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In a 6-3 decision in Trump v. Barbara, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to nearly all children born on U.S. soil, even those born to parents in the country illegally. Roberts was joined by fellow conservative Amy Coney Barrett and the three liberal justices. Justice Brett Kavanaugh also voted to block the order but reasoned it violated a federal statute rather than the Constitution.
Trump urged Congress to act by legislation, posting, “No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary!” But several GOP figures with legal backgrounds broke with him, saying only an amendment could do it. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the ruling means “you have to amend the Constitution to fix that.” Sen. Mike Lee, a former Alito clerk, wrote, “We’re going to need a constitutional amendment.”
Sen. Eric Schmitt said he would file legislation walking through a “door” he argued Kavanaugh’s opinion left open, while also pursuing an amendment. Sen. Rand Paul pointed to an amendment he filed earlier this year. Others favored narrower steps: Sen. John Cornyn touted his bill targeting “birth tourism,” and Sen. Tom Cotton called for “more deportations, a more secure border, and more prosecutions of foreign criminals.”
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The amendment path faces long odds, needing two-thirds of both chambers and three-quarters of the states. Even some conservatives conceded it is out of reach. As commentator Megyn Kelly wrote, “It takes 38 states. We’ll never get that.”
The court issued two other rulings on its final decision day, allowing states to bar transgender girls from girls’ and women’s sports and striking down limits on coordinated party spending as a First Amendment violation.
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