What the Constitution says about citizenship sits mostly in one sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment: “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.”1Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Fourteenth Amendment That clause, ratified in 1868, is the constitutional definition of an American citizen. Around it, the original 1787 text and later amendments set who can be naturalized, which offices and rights belong to citizens alone, and how narrowly the government can act to take citizenship away.
The Gap the Fourteenth Amendment Filled
The original Constitution used the word “citizen” repeatedly, including in the qualifications for Congress and the presidency, but it never defined the term. That silence produced Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857, in which the Supreme Court ruled that people of African descent, whether free or enslaved, could never be citizens under the Constitution.2National Archives. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) The decision is widely regarded as the worst the Court has ever issued, and it helped precipitate the Civil War.
Congress repudiated Dred Scott first through the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and then permanently through the Fourteenth Amendment.3Constitution Annotated. Amdt14.S1.1.1 Historical Background on Citizenship Clause Putting the rule in the Constitution itself was the point. Ordinary legislation can be repealed and court decisions can be overturned, but a constitutional clause can only be changed by another amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment also expressly bars states from making or enforcing laws that cut into the privileges of citizenship, so no state can narrow who qualifies or invent a second-class category.1Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Fourteenth Amendment The standard is national.
Who Is a Citizen by Birth
The Citizenship Clause imposes two conditions: birth on U.S. soil and being subject to U.S. jurisdiction. The second is narrower than it sounds but not by much. It excludes the children of foreign diplomats, who enjoy immunity from U.S. law and owe allegiance to another sovereign. Almost everyone else born in the country meets it, including the children of tourists, temporary workers, and unauthorized immigrants.
The Supreme Court settled the reading of that clause in 1898 in United States v. Wong Kim Ark. Wong Kim Ark was born in San Francisco to Chinese parents who were lawful residents but not citizens. The Court held he was a citizen by birth under the Fourteenth Amendment because his parents were not diplomats and were not part of a hostile occupying force.4Justia. United States v. Wong Kim Ark Place of birth, not the parents’ nationality, decided the case. That has been the operative interpretation ever since.
One current challenge is worth flagging. In January 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14,160, which sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States if their parents were present unlawfully or on temporary visas. The order has not taken effect; multiple federal courts issued injunctions blocking it, finding that the challengers were likely to prevail on the merits.5SCOTUSblog. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Trump’s Challenge to Birthright Citizenship The Supreme Court granted review in Trump v. Barbara in late 2025, with oral arguments expected in spring 2026 and a decision likely by late June or early July 2026.6Oyez. Trump v. Barbara Until the Court rules, the Fourteenth Amendment operates as it has since 1868, and as Wong Kim Ark read it in 1898.
Children Born Abroad
The Constitution’s text handles people born in the country. Citizenship for a child born outside the United States comes from federal statute, which Article I authorizes Congress to write. Under current law, a child born abroad is a citizen at birth if at least one parent is a U.S. citizen who meets specific physical presence requirements.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1401 – Nationals and Citizens of United States at Birth The law in effect when the child was born controls, not the law in effect when the family later applies to document the child’s status.
The Naturalization Power
Article I, Section 8 gives Congress the exclusive power “to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization.”8Constitution Annotated. ArtI.S8.C4.1.1 Overview of Naturalization Clause The word “uniform” carries weight. States cannot design their own paths to citizenship or add requirements on top of the federal ones. The Constitution grants the power and leaves the details to statute, which Congress has revised many times since the first Naturalization Act of 1790.
Under current federal law, most applicants must have lived continuously in the United States as lawful permanent residents for five years before filing, with physical presence in the country for at least half that time.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1427 – Requirements of Naturalization Spouses of U.S. citizens qualify after three years.10U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 12 Part D Chapter 3 – Continuous Residence Applicants must show basic English and knowledge of U.S. history and government,11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1423 – Requirements as to Understanding the English Language, History, Principles, and Form of Government of the United States and finish by taking the Oath of Allegiance, in which they renounce allegiance to any foreign sovereign and pledge to support and defend the Constitution.12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America
One boundary here matters. Despite the oath’s renunciation language, the United States does not require naturalized citizens to give up a foreign passport, and no federal law penalizes maintaining a second nationality. The Constitution neither prohibits nor authorizes dual citizenship in so many words; the government simply tolerates it in practice.
What the Constitution Reserves for Citizens
The Constitution draws a clear line between protections available to all persons on U.S. soil and rights that belong only to citizens. Due process and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment apply to everyone within U.S. jurisdiction. Several other rights and obligations do not.
The Vote
Four amendments protect the right to vote, and each one uses the phrase “the right of citizens”:
- The Fifteenth Amendment (1870) prohibits denying the vote based on race or color.13Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Fifteenth Amendment
- The Nineteenth Amendment (1920) prohibits denying it based on sex.
- The Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964) bars poll taxes in federal elections.
- The Twenty-Sixth Amendment (1971) lowers the voting age to eighteen.
Non-citizens fall outside these protections, and voting by a non-citizen in a federal election is a criminal offense.
Federal Office
The Constitution attaches citizenship requirements to every federal elected position, and the requirements get stricter as the office does. Members of the House must have been citizens for at least seven years.14Congress.gov. ArtI.S2.C2.1 Overview of House Qualifications Clause Senators must have held citizenship for at least nine years.15Constitution Annotated. ArtI.S3.C3.1 Overview of Senate Qualifications Clause The President must be a natural-born citizen, at least thirty-five years old, and a resident of the United States for at least fourteen years.16Congress.gov. Article II Section 1 Clause 5 – Qualifications The “natural-born citizen” requirement is the strictest citizenship qualification anywhere in the Constitution. Naturalized citizens are ineligible for the presidency no matter how long they have held their status.
Jury Service and Federal Jobs
Federal law limits jury service to U.S. citizens who are at least eighteen and have lived in the judicial district for at least one year.17Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1865 – Qualifications for Jury Service Most competitive federal civil service positions also require citizenship under Executive Order 11935.18USAJOBS Help Center. Employment of Non-Citizens
How Citizenship Can Be Lost
The Constitution puts a heavy thumb on the scale against involuntary loss of citizenship. In Afroyim v. Rusk (1967), the Supreme Court held that Congress has no power to strip citizenship from someone who does not voluntarily give it up. The Fourteenth Amendment “completely controls the status of citizenship,” the Court wrote, and prevents the government from canceling it.19Justia. Afroyim v. Rusk Thirteen years later, in Vance v. Terrazas, the Court clarified that the government must prove both that the person performed a statutory expatriating act and that they intended to give up citizenship, with the burden resting on the government.20Legal Information Institute. Vance v. Terrazas, 444 U.S. 252 (1980) Performing a listed act by itself is not enough.
Federal law lists the acts that can trigger loss of nationality if performed voluntarily with the intent to relinquish citizenship, including naturalizing in a foreign country after age eighteen, swearing allegiance to a foreign state, serving as an officer in a foreign military, formally renouncing citizenship before a U.S. consular officer abroad, and committing treason.21Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1481 – Loss of Nationality by Native-Born or Naturalized Citizen In practice, the State Department presumes that routine conduct like holding a second passport is not done with the intent to abandon U.S. citizenship. Loss is overwhelmingly the product of deliberate renunciation rather than incidental conduct.
Naturalized citizens face one additional constitutional wrinkle. A federal court can revoke their citizenship if it finds they obtained it through fraud or willful concealment of material facts, but only on clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence, a higher standard than ordinary civil cases require.22U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 12 Part L Chapter 2 – Grounds for Revocation of Naturalization The misrepresentation must have been willful and must have been material to the original grant of citizenship. Minor omissions do not qualify. Once naturalization is lawfully obtained, the citizen stands on the same constitutional footing as anyone born to the status, with the single exception of eligibility for the presidency.