Birthright citizenship ruling tests Reconstruction's constitutional promise
By
Bill Britt
Summary
This opinion piece examines the Supreme Court's ruling on birthright citizenship in the context of President Trump's executive order attempting to restrict it. The author argues that the Fourteenth Amendment, a product of Reconstruction, was specifically written to overturn the pre-Civil War idea that some people born in the U.S. could be denied citizenship. Trump's order tested not just immigration law but whether the constitutional promise of Reconstruction still holds meaning. The ruling stopped the order, but the piece contends that the battle over who truly belongs in America continues, with old exclusionary ideas persisting.
Source
bskyBirthright citizenship ruling tests Reconstruction's constitutional promisealreporter.comKey quotes
· 5 pulledThe old America believed some people could be born here and still not belong here.
The Fourteenth Amendment was written to bury that idea.
Trump did not merely test immigration law. He tested whether the Constitution Reconstruction gave us still means what it says.
He tried to make a newborn's place in this country depend not on the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment but on the color of his skin.
The ruling shows Reconstruction's promise remains under attack from those seeking old exclusions.
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