Justice Clarence Thomas dissented strongly against the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision to uphold birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants, arguing it misinterprets the 14th Amendment.
| PULSE POINTS |
❓ WHAT HAPPENED: The Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants in a 6-3 ruling on Tuesday, with Chief Justice John Roberts and the Court’s liberal justices being joined by Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, despite the latter offering a partial dissent. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas dissented, with Justice Thomas criticizing the majority for misinterpreting the 14th Amendment in a 91-page dissent. 💬 KEY QUOTE: “The Court says that the Citizenship Clause incorporated the English feudal principle that subjects owed lifetime servitude to the King who owned the soil on which they were born, but Americans—unsurprisingly—rejected this feudal principle.” – Justice Thomas 📰 DETAIL: Justice Thomas argued that the Citizenship Clause was intended to grant citizenship to those not subject to foreign powers, such as black Americans post-Civil War, and not to children of foreign visitors. “Blacks were entitled to citizenship because they were Americans. They had no other homeland, owed no allegiance to any foreign power, and were subject to no other authority. They ‘fought and bled in the same battles,’ ‘gained and gloried in the same victories,’ and were ‘liable to be called upon to defend [America] in time of war’ alongside every other citizen… The Citizenship Clause thus guaranteed them the ‘dignity and glory of American citizenship,’ so as to ensure that they would never be treated as second class under the law,” he wrote, adding: “The same could not be said for the children of foreign temporary visitors. Foreign temporary visitors were attached to their home country, lacked similar bonds to this country, and would not be called upon in time of war.” 🎯 IMPACT: Thomas wrote that he was not sure that the Court’s decision on Tuesday would “stand the test of time,” explaining, “The Citizenship Clause ‘added greatly to the dignity and glory of American citizenship.’ Today’s opinion devalues that citizenship.” |
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