The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a broad conception of birthright citizenship, rejecting President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring that children born to people who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.
The justices relied on a long-settled understanding of the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, and more recent federal laws in ruling that anyone born in the country, with very limited exceptions, is a citizen.
The fact that this wasn’t a 9-0 ruling is very concerning. Being a 5-4 ruling on if the 14th amendment means birthright citizenship means a little more money and this could have gone the other way.