There are Supreme Court decisions that faithfully interpret the Constitution, even when reasonable people disagree about the outcome. And then there are decisions in which the justices appear to begin with the outcome they want and only afterward search for constitutional language to justify it. The Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Barbara belongs firmly in the latter category.
The case centered on one sentence of the 14th Amendment: “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.”
The court interpreted this language to constitutionally guarantee citizenship to virtually every child born on American soil, including the children of illegal aliens and temporary visitors who come to the United States solely to give birth.
Justice Samuel Alito captured the consequences better than anyone else in his dissent:
As interpreted by the Court today, the Fourteenth Amendment confers citizenship on virtually everyone who happens to be born in this country, including the children of “birth tourists,” women who come here solely for the purpose of giving birth to a child and then promptly return home.
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