California Immigrants Freed by Supreme Court Birthrights Decision

Immigrant families in California could breathe a sigh of relief Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to end the constitutionally guaranteed right to birthright citizenship.

On the first day of Trump’s second term, the president issued an executive order declaring that a person born in the United States is not a citizen if their parents were neither citizens nor legal permanent residents at the time of the person’s birth. More than a dozen states, including California, sued to stop the order. They argued that this violated the 14th Amendment, a measure passed after the Civil War that granted civil rights to people who had previously been enslaved.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s order, saying it was necessary to “add names like Antietam, Gettysburg and Chancellorsville to our national canon” for the country to fulfill a vision of “our common humanity” advanced by Civil War abolitionists.

• Chief Justice John Roberts, according to his majority opinion: “Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to participate freely in our political community. The framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to “every free-born person in this land.” … Today we keep that promise.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta praised the decision, saying “The Constitution, not any president, rules this country.”

• Bonta: “This decision is about children born in this country who are entitled to the same dignity, the same protections and the same opportunities as every other American child.”

Hours after the Supreme Court handed down its decision, Trump called on Congress to end birthright citizenship, saying such legislation would have his “full and complete support.”

Meanwhile, two Supreme Court decisions last week related to immigration went Trump’s way, authorizing the federal government to removal of temporary protected statuses for citizens of Haiti and Syria residing in the United States, and for reject asylum seekers at the border.

All three cases underscore Trump’s efforts to limit legal channels for immigration and citizenship, an endeavor Bonta says likely won’t end with the latest ruling.

“Is he going to try to denaturalize citizens? Yes, I don’t think he’s going to stop,” Bonta said. “This is what he has threatened to do and he wants to do it.

Other news from the court: The Supreme Court also ruled Tuesday that states can — but don’t have to — bar transgender student athletes from playing on girls’ and women’s sports teams. Although LGBTQ advocates criticized the ruling, the ruling allows California and 22 other states to continue allowing transgender students to play on teams that match their gender identity. Read more by Carolyn Jones of CalMatters.