Supreme Court Upholds Birthright Citizenship, Rules on Trans Athletes and Campaign Finance

Neutral summary

The Supreme Court closed its term on Tuesday with a cascade of landmark decisions that reshuffled the political landscape in ways that left almost no one fully satisfied. The most consequential: a 5-4 ruling that Trump's executive order ending automatic citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants or temporary visitors is unconstitutional, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, joining the majority. A separate 6-3 vote struck down the order on statutory grounds. Trump called the result "too bad for our Country" and immediately pointed toward Congress as the next battleground, while Vice President JD Vance called it a "major mistake" that would encourage birth tourism. Justice Samuel Alito, in dissent, called the majority's reasoning "grotesque," and Justice Clarence Thomas accused it of relying on "alternative history" and feudal principles. On the same morning, the court upheld state bans on transgender athletes competing in girls' and women's sports in a ruling authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, covering laws in Idaho and West Virginia with direct implications for 25 other states. The court also struck down decades-old campaign finance limits on coordinated spending between political parties and candidates, a 6-3 decision that is expected to benefit Republicans heading into the midterms. And separately, the court agreed to hear a challenge to state and local bans on semiautomatic rifles, setting up a Second Amendment showdown next term. The day also produced an embarrassment for NPR, whose legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg misheard an announcement and briefly, falsely reported that Justice Alito was retiring before It was retracted.