The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down President Trump’s executive order abolishing birthright citizenship for the children of many immigrants.
Birthright citizenship means that a child born on U.S. territory is automatically a U.S. citizen, regardless of their parents' citizenship status. While there are some exceptions, mostly this principle applies.
Birthright citizenship is fairly common: Nearly 20% of countries have unrestricted birthright citizenship, like the U.S. Another 23% of nations have birthright citizenship with some restrictions.
It’s been the law of the land in the U.S. since the 14th Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1866, until President Trump issued an executive order in January 2025 to end birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented or temporary-visa-holding parents. The order would require at least one parent to be a citizen or lawful permanent resident.
The USCCB has filed amicus briefs with the Supreme Court many times before, on a wide range of issues related to Catholic beliefs.
In this brief, the bishops wrote the following:
Ending birthright citizenship lacks historical, legal, and moral support. The principle of citizenship by birth is firmly rooted in Western legal tradition, enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment, and reaffirmed by this Court’s precedent. It is equally grounded in Church teachings, which affirms the inherent dignity of every human person, especially the innocent child. As Catholics, our faith compels us to protest laws that deny the dignity of the human person and harm innocent children, particularly when such laws resurrect the very injustices the Fourteenth Amendment was enacted to repudiate.
At its core, this case is not solely a question about citizenship status or the Fourteenth Amendment. It is a question of whether the law will affirm or deny the equal worth of those born within our common community—whether the law will protect the human dignity of all God’s children.
For these reasons, amici respectfully urge the Court to reject the Executive Order and uphold the enduring constitutional and moral commitment to equal dignity for all persons born in the United States.
The USCCB offered a fact sheet on its website explaining the Church’s position on the issue, in which the bishops said:
The Church opposes the repeal of birthright citizenship because it would render innocent children stateless, depriving them of the ability to thrive in their communities and reach their full potential. The Church believes that a repeal of birthright citizenship would create a permanent underclass in U.S. society, contravening U.S. democratic tradition; undermining the human dignity of innocent children who would be punished though they did nothing wrong; and ultimately weakening the family. Because of this, the Church opposes the current efforts underway for its repeal.
In another brief, 14 women's religious orders in the United States joined other organizations in similarly opposing the executive order.
Online, some commentators have argued that the bishops’ position is an incomplete application of Catholic social teaching.
The president’s executive order is facing intense legal challenges, with the Supreme Court set to hear arguments on its constitutionality on April 1.
Update: The Pillar reports that the USCCB clarified in an internal memo that the bishops are not asking the justices to "decide the case on the basis of Catholic doctrine" and clarified a few other points about the brief:
The U.S. bishops’ conference told its members this week that a legal brief on birthright citizenship did not claim that “that every democratic polity must adopt” a birthright citizenship policy “to satisfy moral standards.”
The clarification came in a March 2 memo issued to bishops, after controversy over a February amicus brief filed by the USCCB in a lawsuit challenging a 2025 Trump executive order that would change the country’s birthright citizenship policies.
