Ending Birthright Citizenship By Executive Fiat

Abstract

For over a century, the United States recognized that any child born on U.S. soil was a U.S. citizen. On January 20, 2025, however, President Donald Trump's Executive Order 14160 disrupted this consensus by attempting to revoke birthright citizenship through a "reinterpretation" of the Fourteenth Amendment's "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" language-denying U.S. citizenship to children born to non-citizen parents. Although multiple courts have enjoined this order as violating the Citizenship Clause, it has reignited the debate over the meaning of the 14th Amendment's citizenship guarantee.

Keywords: Constitutional Law, 14th Amendment