President Donald Trump suffered a defeat on Tuesday at the US Supreme Court in the dispute over birthright citizenship as the court, in a landmark ruling, said children born in the United States will continue to obtain citizenship automatically.
Trump had sought to remove birthright citizenship for the children of people in the US only temporarily or without the required authorization.
Critics argued that the 14th amendment to the US Constitution does not allow that. It states that babies born on US soil are US citizens.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside," the text of the ruling read.
The jus soli - Latin for "right of the soil" - has guaranteed automatic citizenship since 1868 for almost every child born on US territory. The Supreme Court justices have now confirmed this practice with their ruling.
Court watchers had anticipated that the justices would reject Trump's effort to alter the law, based on the hearing on the case in which many justices, including conservative ones, did not appear likely to back Trump's move to modify US citizenship laws.
