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Kevin Roberts, the president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, called the Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday upholding birthright citizenship a “tremendous betrayal of the public.”
“The Justices in the majority have inflamed the all-out assault on our sovereignty and cheapened the sacred value of American citizenship,” Roberts wrote on social platform X.
“Universal birthright citizenship erases any uniquely American birthright—a distortion that was never the meaning or intention of the 14th Amendment. It is time for a constitutional amendment to correct this gross injustice,” he said.
Roberts was responding to a 6-3 ruling by the court that found President Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship are unconstitutional.
Chief Justice John Roberts, joined in the majority by all three liberal justices and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, wrote the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to children born in the U.S. — even those born to parents in the country unlawfully.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, meanwhile, disagreed with his fellow five justices in the majority but voted to block Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship under the Nationality Act of 1940, which Congress passed and former President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law.
Roberts said the justices in the majority “have inflamed the all-out assault on our sovereignty and cheapened the sacred value of American citizenship.”
He added, “Universal birthright citizenship erases any uniquely American birthright—a distortion that was never the meaning or intention of the 14th Amendment.” Roberts also called on Congress to pass a constitutional amendment “to correct this gross injustice.”
Conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch sided with the president.
In his dissent, Alito wrote the court “has made a serious mistake” in upholding birthright citizenship.
Zach Smith, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, concurred with the 76-year-old justice, saying the Supreme Court “ignored the evidence” that the 14th Amendment’s “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” language makes clear “that only the children of U.S. citizens or potentially those who are here on a permanent basis themselves automatically become U.S. citizens.”
Trump’s initial executive order, which he signed on his first day back in office, states the 14th Amendment “has always excluded” those born in the U.S. but not “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”
His order would have required a baby born on U.S. soil to have at least one parent with citizenship or permanent legal status to gain birthright citizenship.
The president on Tuesday called the high court’s ruling “too bad,” but he said Congress can “easily” pass legislation on the matter. In the wake of the ruling, multiple GOP lawmakers backed legislative changes to birthright citizenship.
“No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary! Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship,” Trump wrote on Truth Social post.
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