In a major rebuke of a controversial immigration policy, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled this week that former President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship for certain children born in the United States is unconstitutional.
In a 2–1 decision issued on July 23, 2025, a three-judge panel held that Trump’s January 2025 executive order—which aimed to deny citizenship to children born on U.S. soil to undocumented immigrants and individuals with temporary legal status—violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
“The judges upheld a nationwide block on the policy, preventing it from being enforced anywhere in the country,” explained immigration attorney Akua O. Aboagye, who has closely followed the litigation.
14th Amendment Interpretation at the Center
The court’s majority opinion firmly rejected the Trump administration’s interpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” The panel concluded that the executive order misinterpreted that language by attempting to narrow eligibility based on the immigration status of the parents.
Legal scholars have long debated the scope of the clause, but this marks the first time a federal appeals court has directly ruled on whether a president can unilaterally restrict birthright citizenship through executive action.
The ruling affirms a lower court’s nationwide injunction, halting implementation of the policy while litigation continues. The case is now widely expected to advance to the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices will have the final say on the constitutional limits of presidential power in immigration law.
Political and Legal Significance
The Ninth Circuit’s decision is expected to have broad implications not only for immigration law but also for the scope of executive authority. Trump’s 2025 order was among the most legally aggressive actions taken in his second term, and it reignited national debate over constitutional rights, birthright citizenship, and immigration enforcement.
Critics of the policy argued it was a direct attack on long-established legal precedent dating back to the 1898 Supreme Court case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which affirmed that children born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents are constitutionally guaranteed citizenship.
If the high court affirms the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, it would reinforce over a century of settled law.
However, if it reverses the decision, it could fundamentally reshape the landscape of citizenship law in the United States.
