US Supreme Court rulings on citizenship and finance

On the final day of its 2025-2026 term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two consequential rulings: one upholding birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment, and another striking down federal limits on coordinated spending between political parties and candidates. The birthright citizenship decision, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, rejected President Trump's executive order seeking to end automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents. The 6-3 ruling cited centuries of legal tradition and the plain text of the Constitution. In a separate 6-3 decision along ideological lines, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the majority opinion in a case brought by Vice President JD Vance and Republican committees, holding that spending limits on party-candidate coordination violate the First Amendment. Both decisions drew sharp dissents. In the citizenship case, Justice Clarence Thomas authored a 91-page dissent arguing the 14th Amendment was intended only for freed slaves. Justice Elena Kagan dissented in the campaign finance case, warning that removing coordination limits effectively allows parties to serve as candidates' 'checking accounts.' These rulings underscore the court's conservative majority's textualist and originalist approach to the Constitution, while also highlighting the deep ideological divides that continue to shape American jurisprudence.