LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Democratic elected officials and community organizations Tuesday celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision upholding birthright citizenship, after the court rejected President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring that children born to immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.
The court ruled 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing the opinion. He was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The justices relied on a long-settled understanding of the 14th Amendment, which was adopted after the Civil War. The amendment overturned the infamous Dred Scott decision of 1857, which had declared that Black persons could not become U.S. citizens.
“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,”‘ Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. “We keep that promise today.”
The 14th Amendment codified a broad view of citizenship based on the place of birth with exceptions to this rule of birthright citizenship for children of foreign diplomats, foreign troops on American soil, and for some time, Native Americans who lived on tribal reservations.
In 1924, Congress extended full citizenship to all indigenous people who were born in the United States.
The 14th Amendment had been previously affirmed in the Supreme Court’s 1898 ruling in the case of U.S. citizen Wong Kim Ark, born in San Francisco to Chinese parents who later returned to China.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed with the outcome, but wrote a separate opinion saying he believed Trump’s order violates federal law.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented, siding with Trump.
“The Court today takes the extraordinary step of holding facially unconstitutional the President’s Order excluding from citizenship the children of foreign temporary visitors and illegal aliens,” Justice Thomas wrote in a 91-page dissent. “In doing so, the Court adds to the sad history of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was designed and understood to secure equal rights for the freed blacks but has instead been repurposed for political projects that the Reconstruction Congress did not support.”
Trump’s order had been blocked by several lower courts and had not taken effect.
In response to the ruling, California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote in a social media post that “Today is a win for American democracy.”
“This SCOTUS decision preserves a promise that has defined America for generations: Birthright citizenship is a constitutional guarantee, plain and simple. The Constitution prevailed. We have all prevailed,” Newsom wrote.
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights-Los Angeles hailed the decision, and described it as a “victory for immigrant families.”
“Because birthright citizenship is more than a legal principle. It is a declaration of who we are and who we aspire to be: a nation where every child born here belongs, where equality is protected, where families can stand secure, and where our shared future is built not by fear, but by hope,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of CHIRLA.
“We will continue fighting for meaningful pathways to citizenship so that every person who calls this country home can fully belong, fully participate, and fully thrive. That is how we build a stronger America — one where our laws reflect our values and where everyone has the chance to write the next chapter of our shared story,” Salas added.
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who represents northeast San Fernando Valley neighborhoods, shared similar sentiments about the ruling.
“As the daughter of immigrants, I know that a parent’s immigration status does not diminish the hopes they have for their children or the contributions those children can make to our country,” Rodriguez said.
“This morning’s ruling reaffirms the foundational principle that people born in the United States are entitled to the same rights and protections under the law, regardless of whether their parents are undocumented or part of a mixed-status family, and preserves the promise that every child born in this country deserves an equal opportunity to pursue the American Dream,” Rodriguez added.
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