Birthright Blunders

The Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Barbara extended birthright citizenship to almost any person born in the United States—including the children of undocumented immigrants and of mothers who enter the country for the sole purpose of giving birth here. In so ruling, the court made some serious legal and historical mistakes.

But miscalculations by the Trump administration contributed to the result. Had the president’s birthright citizenship executive order been somewhat narrower and defended correctly, the president might have accomplished more of his goals.

Trump v. Barbara did not address the validity or existence of birthright citizenship, as some media outlets have suggested. It discussed only the scope of birthright citizenship. Those of us born in the US of American or lawful resident alien parents would be birthright citizens under any conceivable decision in the case. The Trump administration argued that for a child to be a birthright citizen, that child must be born within the country of a domiciliary mother. The court decided that, with minor exceptions, only birth within the country was required.