Birthright Citizenship: Trump criticizes ahead of Supreme Court hearing

Kousholy Ema: President Trump on Monday ripped birthright citizenship ahead of Supreme Court arguments regarding his efforts to thwart the 14th Amendment later this week.

“Birthright Citizenship is not about rich people from China, and the rest of the World, who want their children, and hundreds of thousands more, FOR PAY, to ridiculously become citizens of the United States of America. It is about the BABIES OF SLAVES!” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social.

“We are the only Country in the World that dignifies this subject with even discussion. Look at the dates of this long ago legislation – THE EXACT END OF THE CIVIL WAR!” he added. Three years after the end of the Civil War, the 14th Amendment was ratified and concluded, “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.”

It followed the 1858 case of Dred Scott v. Sandford, in which the Supreme Court argued that enslaved people were not citizens, despite their birth in U.S. states and territories.

Trump and the Justice Department are challenging the birthright citizenship guarantees in the 14th Amendment, arguing that only the children of citizens and permanent legal residents are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S., not immigrants living in the country without legal permission or temporary visitors.

On the first day of his second administration, the president signed an executive order restricting birthright citizenship to citizens and legal permanent residents, which quickly drew backlash in courts across the country.

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in the case on Wednesday. Some of the conservative justices, along with the three liberals, have already signaled their opposition to Trump’s order.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the move was “an impossible task in light of the Constitution’s text, history, this Court’s precedents, federal law, and Executive Branch practice” last year.

In 2022, Justice Clarence Thomas argued that all citizens deserve equal protection under the law when evaluating a federal benefits case for Puerto Rico residents, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Though the case didn’t directly focus on birthright citizenship, legal scholars say Thomas issued a clear stance on the issue in his argument.

"It makes sense that Clarence Thomas, the descendant of slaves, thinks the citizenship clause is extremely important,” legal scholar Dilan Esper told The Journal.

In 1995, the Justice Department determined that eliminating birthright citizenship would require a constitutional amendment.

However, Trump has argued for unilaterally undoing the right stretching back to his first administration.

“It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don’t,” he said in a 2018 interview. “It’s in the process. It’ll happen, with an executive order.”

The president’s Monday Truth Social post also took a swipe at the Supreme Court for striking down his tariffs last month, ruling the International Emergency Economic Powers Act had been improperly applied.

“The World is getting rich selling citizenships to our Country, while at the same time laughing at how STUPID our U.S. Court System has become (TARIFFS!). Dumb Judges and Justices will not a great Country make!” he wrote.

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