{"id":111392,"date":"2026-07-05T11:13:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T05:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=111392"},"modified":"2026-07-05T12:22:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T06:52:59","slug":"citizenship-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/citizenship-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Citizenship Rights &#8211; US Supreme Court Reaffirms Birthright Citizenship"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Citizenship Rights Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS), in a 6\u20133 majority ruling, struck down President Donald Trump&#8217;s Executive Order (EO) 14160, reaffirming that birthright citizenship under the <\/span><b>Fourteenth Amendment <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">remains a constitutional guarantee.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The verdict is a major setback to the Trump administration&#8217;s immigration agenda and revives the debate over citizenship, immigration, and constitutional interpretation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Constitutional Basis of Birthright Citizenship<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Fourteenth Amendment (<\/span><b>1868<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) states that all persons born or naturalised in the U.S. and subject to its jurisdiction are U.S. citizens.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 1952 reinforces this principle by recognising citizenship &#8220;at birth.&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Long-standing <\/span><b>exceptions <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">include &#8211; children of foreign diplomats, and children born during enemy military occupation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Supreme Court\u2019s Ruling<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Majority opinion:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Court held that the Executive Order <\/span><b>violated <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the Citizenship Clause of the Constitution.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The majority interpreted &#8220;<\/span><b>subject to the jurisdiction<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8221; to mean anyone physically present in the U.S. and governed by its laws, irrespective of immigration status.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The judgment relied on the <\/span><b>jus soli<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (right of the soil) principle inherited from English common law.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Dissenting opinions:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The citizenship requires domicile and complete allegiance to the U.S., which temporary visitors and undocumented immigrants do not possess.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They maintained that the Fourteenth Amendment was intended primarily to secure citizenship for formerly enslaved people, not to establish universal birthright citizenship.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Concerns were also raised over illegal immigration and birth tourism.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Historical Evolution of Birthright Citizenship in the US<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The original U.S. Constitution did not define citizenship.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Naturalization Act, 1790 restricted citizenship to &#8220;free white persons.&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The infamous Dred Scott (1857) judgment denied citizenship to Black Americans.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Following the Civil War:<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 13th Amendment (1865) abolished slavery.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Civil Rights Act, 1866 recognised all persons born in the U.S. as citizens.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To permanently safeguard this principle, the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) constitutionalised birthright citizenship.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Political Debate Around Birthright Citizenship<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The issue became central to Donald Trump&#8217;s anti-immigration agenda and the Make America Great Again (<\/span><b>MAGA<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) movement.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Critics argue that:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It encourages illegal immigration.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It fuels <\/span><b>birth tourism<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, where foreigners travel to the U.S. solely to secure citizenship for their children.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court rejected these policy concerns, holding that changing political circumstances cannot alter the Constitution&#8217;s clear language.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Changing demographic trends:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Births to unauthorised immigrant mothers increased from about 1.2 lakh (~3% of total US births) in 1990 to nearly 3.8 lakh (9%) by 2006\u201307.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the 2008 financial crisis, the numbers declined to around 2.5 lakh (6%) by 2016.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Pew Research Center, the share rose again to around 9% of U.S. births in 2023, reviving political controversy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Case of India<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>India&#8217;s Citizenship law:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The acquisition and loss of Indian citizenship is primarily regulated by the Constitution of India (<\/span><b>Part II, Articles 5-11<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) and the Citizenship Act of <\/span><b>1955<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India does not allow dual citizenship, and citizenship is acquired through birth, descent, registration, naturalization, or incorporation of territory.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>No unconditional birthright citizenship:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Article 5 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of the Constitution initially recognised citizenship based on birth at the commencement of the Constitution.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Citizenship Act, 1955 granted citizenship by birth to nearly all persons born in India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>1986 Amendment to the 1955 Act<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: At least one parent had to be an Indian citizen.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>2003 Amendment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Citizenship by birth was denied if either parent was an illegal migrant, further restricting the principle.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>The Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) 2019:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Modifying the rules for naturalization, it reduced the naturalization residency requirement from 12 to 6 years.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It fast-tracked the path of citizenship of specific <\/span><b>minority <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">communities (Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians) from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Comparison Between Indian and US Citizenship Rights<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Dual citizenship:\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the U.S., the individuals are citizens of both the United States and the specific state they reside in.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>India has single citizenship<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, meaning every individual is solely a citizen of the Union of India, with no separate state-level citizenship.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also, the U.S. allows its citizens to hold dual citizenship with other countries. However, in India, acquiring a foreign passport immediately nullifies Indian citizenship.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead, India offers the Overseas Citizenship of India (<\/span><b>OCI<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) &#8211; lifelong visa-free travel and economic rights (excluding voting or agricultural land ownership) to the Indian diaspora who have acquired foreign passports.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Birthright citizenship (Jus Soli):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The U.S. grants automatic citizenship to almost anyone born on its soil under the 14th Amendment.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India previously followed absolute jus soli, but (through amendments) now requires at least one parent to be an Indian citizen, and the other must not be an illegal immigrant.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Citizenship by descent:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Both countries allow citizenship by descent if a child is born abroad to citizen parents, though the specific residency\/retention requirements for the child differ based on local statutes.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The U.S. birthright citizenship judgment offers an <\/span><b>important lesson <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for constitutional governance and citizenship debates in India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It highlights the importance of constitutional supremacy, judicial review, and balancing citizenship policies with fundamental constitutional values and the rule of law.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Source: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressreader.com\/foryou?popupArticleId=281900189949058\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><b>TH |<\/b><\/a><b>\u00a0<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-global\/us-supreme-court-birthright-citizenship-ruling-trump-10765824\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><b>IE<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Trump&#8217;s EO 14160, reaffirming birthright citizenship as a constitutional guarantee under the 14th Amendment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":111408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[8509,60,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-111392","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-citizenship-rights","9":"tag-mains-articles","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs-tag","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111392"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111407,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111392\/revisions\/111407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}