Supreme Court rules 5-4 that a presidential memo cannot void the 14th Amendment
BY: @political_analystJUL 01, 2026
In a decision legal scholars are calling a stark indicator of the judiciary's current trajectory, the Supreme Court barely blocked an executive order ending birthright citizenship, revealing that a near-majority of the bench believes the Oval Office can unilaterally veto the Constitution.
WASHINGTON — By a razor-thin 5-4 margin, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that President Donald Trump's executive order attempting to abolish birthright citizenship is unconstitutional, narrowly affirming that the foundational rights established following the Civil War cannot currently be voided by a unilateral directive drafted by a junior policy aide.
Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's three liberal justices to form the bare majority, writing a terse opinion reaffirming that the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause remains binding law. However, the ruling immediately drew alarm from legal observers who noted that four sitting justices explicitly endorsed the premise that the president possesses the authority to cross out constitutional amendments he finds politically inconvenient.
In a 62-page dissenting opinion, the conservative bloc argued for a novel interpretation of the amendment's text, suggesting that the phrase "All persons born or naturalized in the United States" contains an implicit, previously undiscovered caveat allowing the executive branch to opt out of the requirement via departmental memo.