Supreme Court Upholds Birthright Citizenship in 6-3 Decision
The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of birthright citizenship in a 6-3 decision, with three conservative justices dissenting and signaling the goal of ending the policy. The article argues the dissents reflect a corrupt court culture and that birthright citizenship is the unambiguous foundation of the entire U.S. citizenship system, warning that without it the system would collapse.
Background
- **Birthright citizenship**: The 14th Amendment (1868) principle that anyone born on U.S. soil is automatically a citizen, regardless of their parents' status. Known as *jus soli* ("right of the soil").
- **What just happened**: The Supreme Court voted 6-3 to uphold it. The decision itself is routine; the shock is that three justices (Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch) dissented — a fringe view that would have been unimaginable a decade ago.
- **Why this matters**: The U.S. keeps almost no central registry of citizens. Birthright citizenship is the lynchpin: nearly every American's citizenship is proved by a birth certificate, which itself only works because being born here *is* the proof. Without it, the entire citizenship system unravels.
- **Broader context**: The Court has three Trump appointees (Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett). Kavanaugh wrote a partial concurrence that some read as reserving room to revisit the issue. The author argues that the mere existence of these dissents shows the Court is broken — and that structural reform (term limits, ethics enforcement, expansion) is the only remedy.