Birthright Citizenship Upheld By SCOTUS
The long-awaited decision from SCOTUS is here. The justices uphold birthright citizenship in a 5-4 decision. Or 6-3. Depends on your accounting.
Chief Justice Roberts is the author of the majority opinion, and he is joined by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Barrett, and Jackson. Justice Kavanaugh concurs in the judgment and dissents in part. Finally, Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, and Alito dissent.
From the majority:
What the Court held in Wong Kim Ark was simple: the Citizenship Clause [of the Fourteenth Amendment] incorporated the common law and granted citizenship to nearly all children born in the United States. Not surprisingly, then, in the 128 years since, we have repeatedly understood the rule of Wong Kim Ark to guarantee citizenship to all children born in the United States and subject to its power. See, e.g., United States ex rel. Hintopoulos v. Shaughnessy, 353 U. S. 72, 73 (1957); INS v. Rios-Pineda, 471 U. S. 444, 446 (1985). We see no reason to depart from that view today.
The opinion calls out the government and dissenters for having "scant evidence" to support their "dramatically revisionist view" of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights—to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to “every free-born person in this land.” Cong. Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., at 600 (Sen. Trumbull). We keep that promise today.
