Washington DC - On Tuesday, the Supreme Court struck down an executive order signed earlier this year by President Donald Trump that sought to destroy birthright citizenship.

"Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights – to freely participate in our political community," Chief Justice Roberts wrote in the ruling.

"The framers of the 14th Amendment extended that promise to 'every free-born person in this land.'

"We keep that promise today," he added.

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The decision deals a major blow to Trump, who has been calling for birthright citizenship to be overturned as part of his aggressive immigration agenda.

The ruling effectively discards an executive order the president signed on the first day of his second term, which said citizenship would no longer be granted to anyone born on US soil to undocumented parents.

In a statement, Roman Palomares, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens – the nation's largest Latino civil rights group and one of the plaintiffs in the case – praised the court's decision.

"This decision confirms a truth that generations of Americans have lived by: a child born on this soil is a citizen of this nation," Palomares said. "The Court has made clear that no president can override the Constitution by decree."