June 30, 2026

The Supreme Court is about to hand down its last decisions of the term.

Here's the live blog at SCOTUSblog.

And here's where to get the text of the opinions immediately, starting in a few minutes, at the Supreme Court's website.

UPDATE: West Virginia v. B.P.J.: "Title IX allows schools to provide separate women’s and men’s sports teams defined by biological sex, and West Virginia has permissibly maintained female sports for biological females consistent with Title IX." Kavanaugh has the opinion joined by Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Barrett. Thomas and Gorsuch have concurring opinions. There's an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part, by Sotomayor that is joined by Kagan and Jackson, and then Jackson has an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part. To what extent is this unanimous? 

From the Kavanaugh opinion: "In short, States are not required to conduct an individual-by-individual comparison of the physical and athletic capabilities of all biological males in order to satisfy intermediate scrutiny. Intermediate scrutiny permits a sex-based classification that, as here, is 'not invidious, but rather realistically reflects the fact that the sexes are not similarly situated in certain circumstances.”

UPDATE 2: "FECA’s political-party coordinated-expenditure limits violate the First Amendment." The case is National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Committee. Another Kavanaugh opinion. It's joined by the 5 you'd expect to join, and the 3 dissenters are then, as you'd know, Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson. 

UPDATE 3: Birthright citizenship survives. Here's the opinion, Trump v. Barbara. Roberts writes the majority opinion and is joined by Sotomayor, Kagan, Barrett, and Jackson. Kavanaugh writes an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part. Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch all write their own dissenting opinions, with Gorsuch also joining the Thomas opinion. 

From the Roberts opinion: "If Congress intended to limit American citizenship to the children of those domiciled in the United States, nothing in the succinct language of the Citizenship Clause conveyed that design. Words appearing frequently in the Executive Order—'mother,' 'father,' 'lawful,' 'temporary'—are absent from the Clause. For a simple reason: they did not matter. And while the Clause does ensure state citizenship attaches for U. S. citizens in 'the State wherein they reside,” Amdt. 14, §1, the explicit invocation of residence for state citizenship only highlights its absence from the criteria for U. S. citizenship. See Slaughter-House Cases, 16 Wall. 36, 74 (1873) (a person can 'be a citizen of the United States without being a citizen of a State'). When the principal dissent does grapple with the operative legal text—'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States—it has little to say...."

Also from Roberts: "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."

UPDATE 4: From SCOTUSblog: NPR is announcing that Alito is retiring -- but still has not been confirmed... "Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the Supreme Court's opinion reversing Roe v. Wade, is retiring, the court announced Tuesday."

111 comments:

rehajm said...

…a victory for biological women…

John henry said...

Amen, Rejahm.

My granddaughter plays high (sub-olympic) level volleyball and I have long been worried about this.

One less thing to keep me up nights.

John Henry

Peachy+2 said...

Crook Soros Joe - gutted Title IX - because the left worship at the feet of the rage-fueled minority.

Peachy+2 said...

Shall we sit aback and watch the left spin and lie about this?
Because their lying will now ratchet up to 100000x

gspencer said...

My eyes just went to the 6-3 tally. I knew at once this was a win for the good guys.

Peachy+2 said...

Funny how the Mainstream NYT media never touched or showed any interest in the Julie Jaman Ordeal.

Peachy+2 said...

Communist judges want men in dresses - undressing your daughters in the women's locker rooms.

John Borell said...

J. Jackson, wrote in dissent:

"In short, the majority is wrong to suggest that the term
“sex” in Title IX “cannot plausibly be interpreted to refer to
anything other than biological sex.” Ante, at 10. Title IX
makes room for individuals to live in the gender they
choose; it cares not just about sex assigned at birth but also
about individuals’ ability to match (or not) their gender
presentation to their gender identity. Because West Vir-
ginia’s law forces B. P. J. to live—in this case, to play—as a
boy though she is a girl, it might well run afoul of Title IX
properly construed.”

There is not a single person who voted for Title IX who thought “sex” meant anything other than biological sex.

David53 said...

Good. Prepare for the week-long wailing and gnashing of teeth by the usual suspects.

Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...

Increased scrutiny of Supreme Court finances could have a chilling effect on future Justices' ability to take free luxury vacations with billionaire donors.

gspencer said...

If birthright citizenship comes out the wrong way (looking at you, John Roberts), the wailing and teeth gnashing will be drowned out by the NWO cheerleaders.

rehajm said...

…the blog mentioned Soto got Bad Bunny tix, another reflection of her poor judgment…

David53 said...

J. Jackson is worse than I thought she would be. Imagine how bad it would be if the court were packed with her ilk.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Jackson still doesn't know what a woman is.

wild chicken said...

Fitting decision for June! Well done

Iman said...

MTV DJ JJ Jackson would’ve provided higher quality minority opinion reasoning, if given half a chance…

gspencer said...

On the other hand, if birthright citizenship comes out the right way, then said wailing and gnashing will be tuned to 11.

Enigma said...

Let's hope that KBJ stays on the USSC forever and never dies. Her 'wisdom' across the ages will demonstrate to every generation that DEI emplacements are a myopic folly.

KBJ would have aggressively defended "REAL WOMEN" back in the day. She's led by the ideological nose and wears horse blinders/blinkers.

rehajm said...

…my hope is civilization quickly, collectively realizes, then wishes to eliminate all the errors…

Quayle said...

"Title IX
makes room for individuals to live in the gender they
choose"

Translation: "It is amazing what we could achieve if words had no meaning."

Humperdink said...

The Daughters of the American Revolution leadership recently voted to accept trannies. My lovely bride, a recent inductee, is furious. The leadership structured the vote to insure it passed.

Apparently there is an insurrection movement that has started. If it fails my spouse will quit, along with thousands of others.

The Commie left continues to destroy everything it touches.

FunkyPhD said...

KBJ believes that a male declaring himself to be a female IS a female. I hereby declare myself to be Napoleon. Where's my army?

gspencer said...

"The leadership structured the vote to insure it passed."

SOP for the left. The treaties creating the monster known as the EU suffered several rejections. Rather than accept that a NWO superstate was not wanted, the lefty elites demanded Do Overs.

When the Do Overs finally gave the wanted result, then no more voting.

gspencer said...

Any 6-3 is generally speaking gonna be a win.

It would appear that birthright citizenship will be either the grand finale or held over to the next term.

gspencer said...

Roberts did the wrong thing.

5-4

The NWO wins a big one.

Martha said...


71
Roberts concludes that children born to parents who are in the United States unlawfully or temporarily are "born in the United States" and "subject to the jurisdiction thereof." "Under the Constitution, they are citizens at birth."
there you have it!

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Well it’s up to you Congress. Punting to SCOTUS ain’t working out for people who appreciate borders.

Quayle said...

Consider the aspirations expressed in the song "Imagine" by John Lennon, then consider how stripping words of meaning could ever result in the aspiration.

[Excerpted]
"Imagine there's no countries
And no religion, too...
Imagine all the people
Livin' life in peace
A brotherhood of man
Sharing all the world
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one"

Would anyone here like to make the case for how removing the meaning of words (particularly the meaning of the words in our laws) will achieve this aspiration?

There is an old story about people who all spoke the same language who were unified in an objective to build a tower to heaven. That was unity enabled by the same language. It is said that God disunified the people by scrambling their language.

In a similar fashion, stripping meaning of words will disunify, not unify. But I doubt the adherents of the "room for individuals" have thought that through.

(I also note that there are many who seek unity by coercion - by browbeating, threats, social ostracization, and intimidation.)

rehajm said...

…the lefties get to get Trump but the real winners are the English language, one less creative interpretation of the meaning of common words- of course it took a popular conservative’s parsing for ‘everyone’ to care…and a victory of sorts for those of us furiously trying to make immigration and borders a priority issue…

Dave Begley said...

Roberts and ACB. That figures.

On SCOTUS blog, a Leftist was surprised it was 5-4. Should have been 6-3 the other way.

gilbar said...

gspencer said...
"..Any 6-3 is generally speaking gonna be a win.."

SO.. gspencer thinks that Barbara was a win!
good to know!

Enigma said...

Roberts let Obamacare/ACA survive, so his vote on something as touchy as birthright citizenship was not unexpected. This is an old-time, primoridal law and I never thought Trump had a chance here. I'm suprised the vote wasn't 8-1 or 9-0 TBH.

hanuman_prodigious_leaper said...

Talk about dancing angelically and arguing Solonically on tips of needles trying to split and splice hairs.

Why have boys sports at all? Since they all want to play with girls!!

Phaedrus said...

Doesn’t the BR Citizenship EO read as constitutional under the 14th but unconstitutional under the statute that codified it? Wonder if a rider on the SAVE Act would help this as a reconciliation bill. Voting is for the most part economically neutral, but the deportation of millions of wage lowering and welfare dollar consuming individuals might be the square peg for the round hole needed.

John henry said...

VICTORY!!!! (As I predicted)

I listened to the oral arguments and the laguange torture over "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" by the anticitizenship folks was a sight to behold.

This is really the only thing I have seriously disagreed with President Trump on. I think birthright citizenship is a bedrock of what makes us the US. I am glad it survived.

Birth tourism is already illegal ENFORCE THE DAMN LAW

Anchor babies are already illegal (until the baby is 21) ENFORCE THE DAMN LAW Perhaps make new laws that are more restrictive and ENFORCE THEM.

The mother can already be deported ENFORCE THE DAMN LAW

The baby can't be. If the mother doesn't want to take the baby with her when deported, I have no problem leaving the baby behind to be fostered, put up for adoption, or otherwise taken care of til age 18.

Birthright citizenship is not a problem. Some of our laws are.

John Henry

Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...

𝘚𝘊𝘖𝘛𝘜𝘚 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱’𝘴 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱, 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 14𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.

Saint Croix said...

I'm reading the Thomas dissent in the birthright case. It's very good.

Dave Begley said...

Roberts is so wrong. This was a political decision; not a legal decision.

And what is wrong with ACB?

David53 said...

Tell me, which Western nations besides the US and Canada allow birthright citizenship? Congress needs to fix this but they won’t.

John henry said...

It would have been easy for the authors of 14A to say "Not subject to any other jurisdiction" but they didn't.

I am a believer in immigration. I think we could let 1mm immigrants a year in and it would generally be a good thing. But controlled immigration with assimilation. I'm fine with quotas by country.

So maybe the baby born to an illegal mother should be counted against the mother's country's immigration quota. Spitballing here.

John Henry

Dave Begley said...

I remind everyone in the Althouse community that Justice Thomas was Alpha Sigma Nu at Holy Cross; a Jesuit school. ASN is the equivalent of Phi Beta Kappa.

When the Left asserted that he wasn't smart enough to be on the Supreme Court and libeled him because he is a Black conservative, that's when I switched parties.

hanuman_prodigious_leaper said...

Important to know which American Revolution the Daughters are referring to! Past Present or Future

John henry said...

Kamala Harris, as far as I can tell, is a Jamaican citizen by birth through her father. As well as a US citizen by 14A born in California.

Is she "subject to the jurisdiction" of Jamaica in any meaningful way?

Is it a problem for anyone? Not for me, as long as she remains a private citizen. I do not like dual citizenship in general, pick a country, but I think it should be prohibited for any political office.

John Henry

Not an oldster. said...

The first comment on the thread recognizes how empowering bir5hrigh5 citizenship is for women who want to give their kids the best in the world, no matter what it takes or what rules will have to be bent or snapped...

Dogma and Pony Show said...

"This is really the only thing I have seriously disagreed with President Trump on. I think birthright citizenship is a bedrock of what makes us the US. I am glad it survived."

I can imagine feeling that way about the children of legal immigrants, but not those of illegals. OTOH, I still don't understand how the government expected to sort out the immigration status of parents to determine whether their kids (some who may teenagers or adults) are citizens or not. And if the plan was to deny birthright citizenship only prospectively, that's also difficult to justify conceptually.

John henry said...

David53 said...

" Tell me, which Western nations besides the US and Canada allow birthright citizenship? Congress needs to fix this but they won’t."

Really David? Is that a serious question?

Unrestricted:
United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia (restricted in some contexts), Guyana, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Paraguay, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Cuba, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Kitts and Nevis, Chad, Tanzania, Lesotho, Fiji, Tuvalu, and Pakistan.

Some restrictions:
Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom,France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Iran

John Henry

Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...

𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 6-3 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 9-0. 𝘈𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴, 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘑𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯.

John henry said...

Fun fact: If a Russian woman gives birth over Canada on a flight from Anchorage AL to Boston, that baby is a birthright Canadian citizen and subject of King Chuck.

Doesn't have to be Russian, same for any nationality.
John Henry

William said...

Can the US Govt. forbid visas or passport entry to pregnant women (and, of course) men?. The Homeland Security lines will probably get a lot longer if pregnancy tests are administered, but every problem devised by man has a solution.

Phaedrus said...

John Henry, I’ve thought similar. I’m fine with legal immigration and we are all ultimately here due to immigrants but with no controls on illegals and lack of accuracy on domiciles, true allegiance, real jurisdiction, it really strains the language (without breaking apparently) of the 14th for the anchor babies born here.

Send the parents back. Their child remains a citizen and if allowed by their home (or receiving) country, then they can take their child with them, otherwise the child can be fostered here in the US until old enough to decide where they want to reside.

I’d add the parents can come back legally at some point, of they meet qualifications, but I do think they should pick up some of the prior costs of support for the child, or incur some penalty to dissuade even further coming here to give birth.

Dogma and Pony Show said...

The problem for birthright citizenship (for illegals) opponents is that, when Congress drafted the 14A, there were essentially no immigration laws and nobody had any idea what a huge problem illegal immigration would become 150 years later (not that they necessarily would have cared what sort of problems we would be grappling with anyway). So even though the issue of immigrants came up in debate over the amendment, there was apparently no significant interest in carving out an exception for immigrants, legal or illegal. They were content that the language would apply to former slaves and if it created any issues around the margins for other categories of people who might claim citizenship under it, that would be for future generations to deal with.

WK said...

I asked grok to write a poem.

These are the maddest of possible words:
“Kagan to Sotomayor to Jackson.”

Trio of robes in the minority wing,
Sharper than sarcasm, they write and they sting.
Kagan to Sotomayor to Jackson.

Ruthlessly pricking the conservative bubble,
Turning a 6-3 into eloquent trouble—
Dissenting with fire, with footnotes, with muscle:
“Kagan to Sotomayor to Jackson.”

From voting rights crushed to regulations tossed,
They file their opinions, no matter the cost.
The majority shrugs, but the law-review gloss
Still reads: “Kagan to Sotomayor to Jackson.”

Oh, somewhere in chambers the right wing is grinning,
And somewhere the clerks are high-fiving and spinning,
But the only sound left in the courtroom is sinning:
“Kagan to Sotomayor to Jackson.”

Enigma said...

The Western Hemisphere is relatively empty vs. the Old World. Specifically, Google estimates 83% (up to 7B) in the East and 17% (up to 1.5B) in the West.

Free and easy immigration was used as a relocation carrot for economic development. It worked. If obsolete, change the laws.

John henry said...

Dogma said:

" OTOH, I still don't understand how the government expected to sort out the immigration status of parents to determine whether their kids (some who may teenagers or adults) are citizens or not."

Bingo! That is why I am against any modification to BRC. It makes determination very clean and simple.

My brother in law was German, they lived in Munich. But he was born in the Sudetenland in 1939 or so. Germany said he was Czech and refused him German citizenship though he had permanent residence status and a passport. Czechoslovakia said he was German and refused him citizenship.

In the 90s, or maybe even later, he was finally permitted to jump through a whole bunch of hoops and become a German citizen. He still had to go through quite a process. Not quite but similar to what my US born sister would have had to go through to become a German citizen.

John Henry

n.n said...

The ruling on birthright citizenship is: if you can get away with it, sets a dark and Diverse precedent.

The ruling on simulants in the transgender spectrum is analogous to the ruling on performing human rites, the wicked solution under Planned Parenthood umbrella corporations.

Progress, but also openings with opportunities to mitigate the Ouroboros phenomenon.

Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...

𝙄 𝙜𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙨 -- 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 -- 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙨.

John henry said...

Goodness gracious. That is two posts by IEE that I've agreed with. In a single day!

I'm feeling faint. Need to go lie down.

John Henry

Gusty Winds said...

"The trouble with America... is that it's full of Americans! Perhaps the time has come to stretch the meaning of birthright citizenship. Make anchor babies fully legal, and put them on the welfare dole and make them dependant on the government. If we can't get them out, we'll breed them out! That should fetch just the kind of voters we need in The United States." - John Roberts, ACB, Democrats, and Liberal White Women.

Josephbleau said...

“ And while the Clause does ensure state citizenship attaches for U. S. citizens in 'the State wherein they reside,”

So why do states charge non resident tuition at universities? It seems that we are allowed to place restrictions on what residence means, if I temporarily reside in a hotel, I am a citizen of that state, but apparently a second class citizen with respect to college tuition.

Gusty Winds said...

So a pregnant Chinese or Indian woman can fly to Guam, give birth, and that child is eligible to be President of the United States.

I guess it's better than being born in let's say... Kenya, and faking a birth certificate.

Gusty Winds said...

Josephbleau said...So why do states charge non resident tuition at universities?

They do it for the extra money in order to support their bloated administration. The liberals also do it to screw all the kids whose families paid state income and local property taxes all their lives.

They're more greedy than the "billionaires" they despise. And it's all done in the name of fake, altruistic "diversity."

John henry said...

In 1968 I was at Naval Training Center Bainbridge MD. There was a very large contingent of WAVEs in various schools on the command.

Someone circulated a very official directive, mimeoed of course, that the babies of any WAVEs that got pregnant would be property of the Navy. They would be raised in a special facility and on age 16 would be inducted into the Navy on a 20 year hitch. It was very detailed and very official looking. Totally fake (I think!)

Maybe that is a solution for babies of illegals. They become property of the federal govt, raised to be in the military, go in on a 20 year hitch at 18 or so.

This proposal may be too modest.

John Henry

Dave Begley said...

Roberts and ACB just gave Chinese birth centers in CA a giant boost. SCOTUS seal of approval.

How could they blow that off?

gilbar said...

here's a Serious Question:
why does the US allow dual citizenship?
IF you're NOT giving up your Chinese citizenship.. HOW are you American?

Louie the Looper said...

Being a US citizen bestows certain rights, but it also carries obligations. For example, the requirement to file a tax return under the IRC and the requirement to report foreign financial accounts under FBAR. These laws apply equally to foreign-resident citizens whether they owe tax or not. Failure to file either such report can result in significant penalties. If the government does not verify a nonresident citizen has complied with the filing requirements before issuing a passport, I think they should do so. It might make tourism for birthright citizenship less attractive.

John henry said...

Gusty Winds said...

" So a pregnant Chinese or Indian woman can fly to Guam, give birth, and that child is eligible to be President of the United States."

They have to live in the US for 14 years too but yes.

Guam is a "State" under the meaning of 14A.

As is PR, USVI, Mariannas

But by US Code, maybe not by Constitution.

John Henry


John henry said...

gilbar said...

" IF you're NOT giving up your Chinese citizenship.. HOW are you American?"

A number of countries do not permit renunciation of citizenship. I think China is one

I agree with you, though. Why should Kamala Harris, a Jamaican citizen, be eligible for president?

She is, of course, she meets the constitutional requirements. But she should have been laughed out of running (as she was in 2020) for that as well as incompetency.

John Henry

John henry said...

David, you do realize that the Chinese and other birth centers are seriously illegal, don't you? I think running one can get you 10 years in the pokey.

The problem is that the laws are not enforced.

John Henry

Lazarus said...

Changing this would require at least an act of Congress and probably a constitutional amendment. Changing state electoral laws would require action at the state level or a constitutional amendment and then federal legislation. One can't do these things by executive order.

I wish the court had just left it at that. Wrapping themselves in the flag to preserve "birthright tourism" is scandalous. The problem with originalism is that something actually did change with the jet age, which couldn't have been foreseen in 1868. The other big change, which we're seeing in this year's primaries, is the rise of politicians who are actively anti-American. While they may rely on the votes of white progressives, many are recent arrivals or the children of recent arrivals. Without some great common project that we are committed to the country may fall apart -- or at least become increasingly chaotic and ungovernable.

David53 said...

John---

You believe Chad, Tanzania, Lesotho, Fiji, Tuvalu, and Pakistan are Western Countries? OK, whatever. Let me fix my original statement for you. " Tell me, which top 30 Western countries in the world besides the US and Canada allow unrestricted birthright citizenship?" Congress needs to fix this but they won’t."

Do you disagree?

Big Mike said...

Yesterday a conservative blogger predicted the result of the birthright citizenship case because the Supreme Court was not erecting a barrier around the building. His (correct) reasoning was that if the ruling was going to go the other way the justices would (rightly) anticipate rioting on the part of Althouse’s beloved liberals.

Lazarus said...

AI tells me that Kamala Harris is not a Jamaican citizen. Common sense tells me that Barack Obama was not born in Kenya. There's a difference between being eligible for foreign citizenship and accepting it.

wendybar said...

Laws are hardly ever enforced unless they are against Donald Trump anymore. To wish they would start enforcing them, would be a fundamental transformation of America, and the left don't care if we get a Chinese President someday.

Gospace said...

So the question of the day absolutely unanswered by the birthright citizenship decision- Are American Samoans born in American Samoa now American citizens with full citizenship privileges?

Josephbleau said...

“Also from Roberts: "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."

Why are they talking about free born wrt the 14 amd. Did it not extend to every non free born person also? Otherwise ex slaves were not included. I can see excluding “Indians not taxed” because Indians were supposed to be part of their own nation and not us citizens unless they decided to be and became subject to taxation, like everyone else.

wendybar said...

Time to DEPORT every single illegal immigrant in America.

wendybar said...


C3
@C_3C_3
·
23m
A child born in America to a family that has been in America for 10 generations has the same citizenship as a child born in America to a family that snuck over the border 10 minutes ago.

Insane.

https://x.com/C_3C_3/status/2071979967492104578?s=20

Ann Althouse said...

@Indefinitely Extended Excursion

You need to follow the rule against using italics. Leave your comments in the existing typeface. Distinguish yourself by what you write, not interfering with my format. I will have to delete future comments that don't coordinate with my design choice for my blog.

John henry said...

Lazarus, I looked up the relevant Jamaican law years ago and the way I read it was that she was automatically a Jamaican citizen because of her father. I just asked Claude AI and it says that citizenship to someone born outside of Jamaica (like Harris) is not automatic. She is eligible but has to apply.

So now I don't know.

If she is not dual citizen, apologies for spreading a false story.

But my objection definitely applied in the case Ted Cruz. Born in Canada to an American mother and Cuban(?) father, he was a birthright Canadian citizen. In 2014 he claimed not to have known and officially renounced his Canadian citizenship.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-27790224

hombre said...

Birthright citizenship will turn the US into a third world, probably communist, nation. Any available legal rationale should have resulted in its end. Roberts and Barrett don’t understand what’s happening or self-righteousness prevents them from caring.

wendybar said...


Liz Wheeler
@Liz_Wheeler
·
3h
1M Chinese communists will soon be eligible U.S. voters.

Because the Chinese pay surrogates to birth their babies on U.S. soil.

Or engage in birth tourism & come here pregnant themselves to give birth:

They then take the babies directly back to China.

They indoctrinate them into communists.

But the babies are U.S. citizens. Because they were born on U.S. soil.

As soon as they turn 18, they are deployed to vote in our elections.

This Chinese plot to takeover our elections is ripening, the first Chinese communist U.S. citizens are coming to age… and will vote in 2028.

Soon 1M will be eligible to vote.

The Chinese have quite literally taken over our elections. 1M Chinese commie votes decides our elections by orders of magnitude.

Birthright citizenship is a grave threat to our nation. It must be overturned.

https://x.com/Liz_Wheeler/status/2071930963941056876?s=20

John henry said...

This is what I had been relying on. The "Every person born outside Jamaica shall become a citizen of Jamaica" seems pretty unambiguous.

When I cited this to Claude, it looked at Dad's citizenship, the law and decided that the can apply did not refer to citizenship but to documentation, passport etc, of citizenship.

From the Jamaican Constitution Chapter 2:

"3C. Citizenship by descent

Every person born outside Jamaica shall become a citizen of Jamaica - on the sixth day of August, 1962, in the case of a person born before that date; or on the date of his birth, in the case of a person born on or after the sixth day of August, 1962, if, at that date, his father or mother is a citizen of Jamaica by birth, descent or registration by virtue of marriage to a citizen of Jamaica."

bagoh20 said...

Our ancestors overestimated the intelligence and wisdom of their descendants, and underestimated the draw their new nation would exert on the people of the world. They expected us to deal with our problems, but we are not capable. We have opted instead for wordy justifications for not solving problems.

Gusty Winds said...

I can see the Democrat argument now. "People born in Puerto Rico and Guam are US Citizens. They should therefore be allowed to vote in Presidential Elections and have voting representation in congress and participate in "our democracy." These territories must be granted full Statehood along with Washington D.C."

Just imagine the opportunity for expansion of absentee voter fraud. ACB is a dingbat.

John henry said...

David 53,

Perhaps we differ on "Western Countries" I take it to mean North, Central and South America. with only a couple exceptions, all have birthright citizenship.

I just gave the complete list as returned by DuckDuckGo which included some other non-western countries.

In any event, I'm an American. I care what the US does regardless of whether others follow. We are the only country with meaningful free speech in our constitution. Would you give that up because nobody else does? Ditto right to bear arms, religion, press and a bunch of other things.

The rest of the world can do citizenship however they want. Some countries want to preserve their ethnicity and do it with citizenship. Is it possible to become German? Or French? Or Italian? in less than a dozen generations? If then. (Ethnically, not legally)

Yet one can become fully American in a generation or less. There is no such thing as an "Ethnic American" in the way there are Ethnic Germans, French, Japanese etc.

I would not have it any other way.

John Henry

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Standing in the election contribution limit case depended on this legal fiction:

“the Vice President still maintains an active “Statement of Candidacy” on file with the FEC indicating his intent to run for Senate in 2028, as well as a principal campaign committee (JD Vance for Senate) that has raised money for a Senate race.”

John henry said...

No, Samoans, and Swain Islanders, are not US citizens. Samoa and Swain Island are not "States" or "The United States" as defined by US Code. They are "Nationals but not citizens"

They get US passports, can travel freely to the US, but are not citizens

PR, USVI, Guam, Mariannas are legally "States" of "The United States" by law. Anyone born there is a 14A US citizen. Unlike Ted Cruz, John McCain my German nephews and others born to US parents outside "The United States"

John Henry

n.n said...

So, natural born, but not a citizen by birth to a qualifying mother and father. Legal resident, perhaps.

wendybar said...


Tomi Lahren
@TomiLahren
·
1h
So we’ve got open voting season, mail-in ballots, no voter ID, no proof of citizenship, ballot harvesting, drop boxes AND birth right citizenship.

Well played, Democrats. The invasion worked.

Meanwhile so-called republicans won’t pass the Save America Act and have backed off mass deportations because it looks “mean.”
https://x.com/TomiLahren/status/2071972104342241732?s=20

David53 said...

John,

"The rest of the world can do citizenship however they want."

True, but in this one case I wish we would emulate them and I wish they would emulate us particularly on free speech issues.

John henry said...

Gusty Winds said...

I can see the Democrat argument now. "People born in Puerto Rico and Guam are US Citizens. They should therefore be allowed to vote in Presidential Elections and have voting representation in congress and participate in "our democracy." These territories must be granted full Statehood along with Washington D.C."

Now?

We've been having this argument for 75 years. We are full citizens under 14A. Many people have argued in court over the years that not being able to vote for president is a denial of citizenship.

Uniformly the federal courts have held that PR is not a "state" in the sense that it deserves electoral votes. It points out that it took a constitutional amendment in the 60s to get US citizens in DC the presidential vote. (DC votes, citizens vote for electors)

Birth in PR satisfies the "natural born requirement to run for president. As does residence in PR satisfy the residency requirement. We could, and pols have proposed, have a presidential election in Puerto Rico. But we would have no votes in December when it counts.

We could, and it has been proposed, elect 2 Senators and reps and send them to DC as a shadow reps. They could even work out of the Resident Commissioner's office on Capital Hill. No authority under federal law of course.

John Henry

John henry said...

Full citizens by birth under 14A, not naturalized but "Born in the USA"

John Henry

EuroNole said...

Regarding birthright citizenship, I don’t see this necessarily as a loss for Trump. He campaigned against it and kept his promise. He did all he could do. He did not lose the support of anyone who voted for him.

Lazarus said...

That American Indians/Native Americans were denied citizenship for over 50 years after the 14th Amendment suggests that "birthright" citizenship wasn't quite what some have come to believe it is. Same thing for American Samoans, still denied citizenship for some reason. Guamanians were also denied citizenship until 1952. Filipinos weren't automatically US citizens from birth when we ruled that country. The "original meaning" of the words may not have been what we assume it to be now. It's understandable that the court didn't want to accept the discriminatory views of the 19th century, but it ought to be recognized that by doing so, they may have altered the meaning of the words and taken us into new territory.

Kolchak James said...

The Court knows that the Left riot and resort to violence, and the Right generally does not.

Thus, the Supreme Court judges rule in fear of the Nicholas John Roskes of the Left showing up outside their home.

Perhaps they need to begin fearing the sight outside their window of the U-Haul of the Timothy McVeighs.

That mint is wafer thin, monsieur.

mccullough said...

Leave it to Roberts to say that U.S. citizenship is based on who was a subject of the King of England.

We are all just subjects of John Roberts status seeking.

Hassayamper said...

Fun fact: If a Russian woman gives birth over Canada on a flight from Anchorage AL to Boston, that baby is a birthright Canadian citizen and subject of King Chuck.

Are you certain of that? I thought babies born on airplanes (and ships) were citizens of the nation where the vessel is flagged.

mccullough said...

Good time to amend the Constitution to correct the Supreme Court’s misunderstanding.

Only those born in the U.S. to a U.S. citizen mother are citizens of the U.S. All others may only attain citizenship by an Act of the state of Texas.

Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...

By a single vote, the Supreme Court has upheld the Constitution. Where do the justices go for their apology?

mccullough said...

Also amend the Constitution to get rid of dual citizenship. No adult may be a citizen if the U.S. and another country. If they are a citizen of another country they forfeit their U.S. citizenship forever and must leave the U.S. immediately.

mccullough said...

The justices can go to the next Antifa get together for their apology. Like Scott Wiener.

RCOCEAN II said...

Amend the constitution? LOL. yeah we can't get 50 votes for the save act. A majority of R Senators want amnesty. And the chances of them voting for birthright citizenship? Zero.

The blue states would never vote for it even if got through Congress. Libtards think being for massive immigration and 50 million zulus if possible makes them morally superior. And puts money in their pocket.

Some leftist wrote a book - 1 Billion Americans. All the liberals/leftists thought that was a wonderful idea.

Rabel said...

The President has weighed in on the opinion.

I'm sure it'll show up here soon.

Meade said...

I would like to congratulate President Xi, and the Great Country of China, on their massive Birthright Citizenship WIN! President DONALD J. TRUMP

mccullough said...

Two ways to amend the Constitution. Use the one that doesn’t involve Congress.

Unlikely to get 34 states but pushing the issue will accelerate the breakup of the U.S.

mccullough said...

Trump should ban Chinese nationals from coming to the U.S. No more student visas, tourist visas, or business visas.

No anchor babies for Xi

Jim at said...

The birthright citizenship case will get the most ink, but it simply maintains the status quo.

The trans case (West Virginia) is the big one as sets the stage to stop this insane nonsense once and for all.

RideSpaceMountain said...

The world's right to our "doorstep" has been upgraded from de facto to de jure. What rights we have in the rest of the world? The right to shut up I guess...

Gospace said...

"𝘑𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥...
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘬, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘰."

The status quo was determined by bureaucrats in the 1930s, Before then, not a citizen, not actually domiciled here, your baby wasn't a citizen.

Gospace said...

Oh- those are copy/pasted italics...

Mason G said...
This comment has been removed by the author.

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