Supreme Court Reaffirms Birthright Citizenship Amid Historical Reckoning

On the final day of its 2026 term, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that virtually all persons born on U.S. soil are citizens, reaffirming the 14th Amendment’s birthright guarantee. The decision revisits the 1857 Dred Scott ruling, which denied citizenship to enslaved people, and the 1868 amendment that overturned it. In 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to limit birthright citizenship, prompting the Court’s review.

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Lynne Jackson, Dred Scott’s great-great-granddaughter, and Charlie Taney, Roger Taney’s great-great-grandnephew, have publicly reconciled. Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority; Justice Clarence Thomas dissented; Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a separate opinion stressing a broader national reset. Iowa solicitor general Eric Wessan highlighted deep court disagreement. President Trump and congressional allies remain opposed.

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Roberts said citizenship is “the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” and that the Framers extended that promise to every free-born person. Jackson emphasized the amendment’s role as a national reset, not merely a remedy for slavery. Thomas warned the majority may not endure. Wessan told a Federalist Society audience the Court is deeply divided on the Constitution’s relation to race. The Trump administration’s 2025 order sought to limit birthright citizenship, but the Court rejected it.

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The sources do not include the text or detailed legal rationale of the 2025 executive order, and they give no estimate of how many individuals would be affected by the proposed limitation.

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Thomas’s dissent argues the 14th Amendment was intended only for freed slaves and their children, questioning the majority’s broader reading. Wessan’s “shadowboxing” comment suggests the Court is wrestling with selective racial arguments. Congressional allies of Trump have pledged continued challenges, indicating the issue remains politically contested.

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• “I am not sure that today's opinion will stand the test of time," Thomas wrote.” — Justice Clarence Thomas

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• “There's definitely deep disagreement on the court about the nature of the Constitution as it pertains to race," Wessan told an audience assembled by the conservative Federalist Society last week.” — Eric Wessan, Solicitor General of Iowa

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• “Everybody thinks it's race or racism or something like that, and it's sincerely just the word 'relationship.' You start to build a relationship.” — Lynne Jackson

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• “Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” — Chief Justice John Roberts

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President Trump and congressional allies have signaled continued opposition, suggesting possible legislative or further executive actions to revisit birthright citizenship. Jackson and Taney’s reconciliation is being presented as a model for broader national dialogue on race, history, and the meaning of citizenship.

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