Why the Supreme Court Upheld Birthright Citizenship
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The Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship in a blow to one of President Trump's signature policies. And it's primary day in Colorado, and we're looking at a race between a longtime Democratic congresswoman and her left-wing challenger.
The reason this congressional race is getting so much attention all of a sudden is people want to see whether there is a broader trend outside of New York as far as Democratic socialists.
gaining momentum. Plus, the S&P and the Nasdaq close out their best quarter since 2020. It's Tuesday, June 30th. I'm Alex Oseleff for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. We're starting the show today with the Supreme Court. It was the last day of the term, and the justices issued several major opinions. First up, in a 6-3 vote, they rejected President Trump's attempt to curtail birthright citizenship. Trump aimed to cancel citizenship for people born in the U.S. if their parents were living in the country illegally or if their parents were in the U.S. on temporary visas. It was a signature immigration policy that Trump issued on the first day of his second term.
But the executive order was blocked by lower courts. It never went into effect. And now a majority of the Supreme Court has said it's unconstitutional. For more on the decision and its implications for Trump's immigration agenda, Journal Legal Affairs reporter Lydia Wheeler joins me now from Washington. Lydia, why did the justices strike down this order?
So the whole debate centers on the 14th Amendment and exactly what it says. which is all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the court's majority decision, and he said that there was scant evidence that birthright citizenship is limited just to those people who are domiciled in the United States, which is exactly what the Trump administration basically tried to claim. Roberts said that if Congress intended basically to limit American citizenship just to children of people domiciled in the U.S., that they would have conveyed that, right? And that nothing in the text of the 14th Amendment actually says that. He said nowhere do you see the words father or lawful or temporary.
But this was a six to three decision. So what did the dissenters say?
We saw dissents come in from Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Samuel Alito, and these are the Court's staunchest conservative members. Justice Thomas said that the Court's historical analysis was inaccurate. He said that the 14th Amendment was designed and understood to secure equal rights for newly freed Black slaves, and basically to ensure that they would never again be treated as second-class citizens. And Justice Samuel Alito, he said that the court basically made a serious mistake with this decision. He said that when the 14th Amendment was adopted, that it was really meant only for children who at birth owe an allegiance to the United States.
This decision is the third time this year that the Supreme Court has blocked one of Trump's signature initiatives. The other two were his tariffs and his effort to remove Lisa Cook from the Fed. What does that tell us about how the court sees its relationship with President Trump's policy agenda and also his effort to expand presidential authority?
The court gave Trump full reign to fire whoever he wants from whatever agency that he wants except the Fed. And, you know, Republicans then won big today with the court's decision to strike down limits on how much political parties can spend. in coordination with their preferred political candidate. And so really, the president is walking away here, I think, with a lot to gain and a lot of big wins from the court this term.
That was WSJ Legal Affairs reporter Lydia Wheeler. Thank you, Lydia. Thanks so much. The court also ruled today that states can ban transgender women and girls from playing on female sports teams.
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