About this Episode
The US Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, ruling that nearly all children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present were citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, joined by Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson and Barrett, while Kavanaugh concurred in part and Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch dissented. The decision rejected the Trump administration’s contention that “subject to the jurisdiction” excluded children of non‑permanent visitors and left in place longstanding precedent and the 2023 legal framework that had been challenged. The ruling ended the administration’s final hope of overturning the policy by executive order and preserved the constitutional guarantee unless Congress or the states pursued a constitutional amendment or new statute.
The US Supreme Court also ruled that states could bar transgender women and girls from female sports, overturning lower‑court decisions in cases from Idaho and West Virginia; the 6–3 judgment held such bans did not violate Title IX, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh writing that states may preserve women’s sports for biological females, while the dissenting justices warned of the ruling’s consequences. The decision was expected to clear the way for similar laws already on the books in about 25 states and marked a high‑profile win for the Trump administration’s policy agenda.
More than one million undocumented migrants submitted applications for Spain’s mass regularisation by the deadline, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said, well above the 500,000 initially expected. Applicants must show a clean criminal record and at least five months’ continuous residence before 1 January. Authorities have three months to decide, and successful applicants will receive a Spain‑only work and residence permit. Sánchez framed the scheme as necessary to sustain the economy and social services, while business groups welcomed it and the right and far‑right criticised it as a pull factor for irregular migration.
