If you’re born in the United States, you’re a US citizen. That isn’t how it works in many European countries, including the UK, but that’s how things work in America.
Your parent might just have been on holiday, or a layover between flights, but if you’re on US soil when your mother gives birth, you’re an American. This is known as birthright citizenship, and it’s codified in the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.
That is, at least, the view of five of the nine justices of the US Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling against the Trump administration handed down on Tuesday, the last day of the court’s current term.
Shorts
Though the overall decision went against Donald Trump by six votes to three, the constitutional question was five-four – meaning that four justices held that the constitution did not guarantee birthright citizenship.
