WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court of the United States delivered a landmark 6-3 ruling on Tuesday upholding birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment, handing President Donald Trump a significant defeat on one of his core immigration agenda items — and Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) wasted no time making his position known, calling the ruling a constitutional affirmation that no executive order can override the birthright of every person born on American soil.
Taking to X Tuesday morning, Rep. Beyer, who represents Virginia’s 8th Congressional District and serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means, posted a direct and unequivocal statement in response to the high court’s decision:
“If you’re born in the United States, you’re an American citizen – and no president can erase that constitutional birthright with an executive order.”
A Decision Over a Year in the Making
The ruling, issued in Trump v. Barbara, struck down Executive Order 14160, which President Trump signed on his first day back in office on January 20, 2025. The order directed federal agencies not to recognize citizenship for children born in the United States if neither parent was an American citizen or a lawful permanent resident. Multiple federal courts blocked the order within days, finding it unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, which states: “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 Supreme Court, in an opinion authored by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, affirmed those lower court rulings. Writing for the majority, Roberts traced the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship to English common law and through the post-Civil War ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, which was itself designed to overturn the Supreme Court’s notorious 1857 Dred Scott decision denying citizenship to Black Americans. “Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” Roberts wrote. “We keep that promise today.”
Beyer’s Long Record of Opposition to Trump’s Immigration Agenda
Rep. Beyer’s reaction Tuesday is consistent with a long record of opposition to what he has called the Trump administration’s unconstitutional approach to immigration and executive power. Following the announcement of Trump’s executive orders on January 20, 2025, Beyer was among the most vocal House Democrats criticizing what he described as a pattern of targeting constitutional rights through executive fiat. On his official immigration issues page on beyer.house.gov, Beyer has stated that he “strongly support[s] comprehensive immigration reform” and is committed to a system that “reflects the best of our values, upholds human dignity, and strengthens our communities.”
In a separate statement released in early 2025 in response to the Trump administration’s broader rollout of executive orders in the days following inauguration, Beyer described constituents contacting his office “expressing outrage and fear about how Donald Trump and Elon Musk are harming the federal government and the country,” and pledged to “take action to fight back.”
What the Court Said
Beyond Roberts’ majority opinion, Justice Kavanaugh issued a concurring opinion stating his view that Trump’s executive order violated the Immigration and Nationality Act, a separate federal statute that codifies birthright citizenship using the same language as the Fourteenth Amendment, though Kavanaugh did not join the majority’s constitutional rationale and noted Congress could theoretically act legislatively on the matter in the future. The three dissenting justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch — each argued that the majority misinterpreted the Citizenship Clause.
Following the ruling, President Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that the decision was “too bad for our Country,” but asserted that Congress could address the matter through legislation without requiring a constitutional amendment. “No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary! Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship,” Trump wrote. “They will have my Complete and Total Support!”
Beyer: The Constitution Is Not an Executive Order
For Rep. Beyer, Tuesday’s ruling represents a definitive answer to what he has characterized as the administration’s willingness to test — and exceed — the limits of presidential authority. His district in Northern Virginia, which includes Arlington, Alexandria, and Falls Church, is home to one of the largest concentrations of federal employees in the country and a significant immigrant community, giving Beyer’s constituents a direct stake in the outcome of the birthright citizenship litigation.
The ruling marks the third major Supreme Court loss for Trump in 2026, following a February decision striking down his sweeping global tariffs and a ruling Monday rejecting his bid to immediately fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
Prior to Trump’s January 2025 executive order, Beyer repeatedly pushed back against the former president’s approach to executive power, including calling a Trump-era funding freeze “blatantly illegal and unconstitutional” and accusing the administration of engaging in “illegal” actions targeting constitutional rights. With the Supreme Court now having spoken definitively in Trump v. Barbara, Beyer’s Tuesday post underscored what Democratic lawmakers have maintained throughout the legal battle: that the president simply does not have the power to rewrite the Constitution by signing an order.