In a rebuke to Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, the supreme court upheld birthright citizenship, which provides nearly all people born in the United States with citizenship. In a 6-3 opinion, the justices ruled that the Trump administration violated a provision of the 14th amendment, which was affirmed by the supreme court 128 years ago. “Children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause,” the ruling reads. The NAACP, a civil rights group dedicated to advancing the rights of Black people, called the decision a “powerful affirmation of the constitution and the enduring promise of equality it represents”. Voto Latino, a non-profit pushing for Latino voting power, said that “the court drew a permanent line in the sand – defeating a radical attempt to divide our families and strip away any doubt that our community belongs here”.
The president said the decision was “too bad”, but appeared undeterred in his quest to end birthright citizenship, turning his attention to Congress. Instead of trying to pass a constitutional amendment, Trump is pushing for lawmakers to create new legislation that establishes exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to parents who do not have permanent legal status in the US. “Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship,” he wrote on Truth Social. But that will also be an uphill battle, as any legislation would need to overcome the 60-vote filibuster.
The supreme court also ruled that schools can determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports teams based on biological sex, effectively upholding a ban on transgender women and girls from taking part in female sports teams. The ruling centered on the case of Lindsay Hecox, a college student in Idaho, and Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 15-year-old high school student from West Virginia. The court said that West Virginia and Idaho did not violate Title IX – which bars educational programs that receive federal funding from discriminating based on sex. But the court’s three liberal justices said in a dissenting opinion that the bans do impede on the constitution’s equal protection clause. The far-reaching ruling is likely to pave the way for similar bans throughout the US.
Also today, the supreme court justices struck down limits on campaign spending in federal elections by political parties. In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the court held that the law’s “limits on political parties” coordinated expenditures violate the first amendment.
The supreme court also declined to consider the legality of laws that restrict people aged 18 to 20 from purchasing or using firearms, but said it will consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles, often called assault weapons, violate the second amendment.
A group of House Republicans, led by Florida representative Anna Paulina Luna, joined Democrats to block a procedural rule needed to pass major bills, a move that blocks Speaker Mike Johnson’s efforts to bring legislation to the floor before a recess.
This has been the second week the group of Republicans has blocked the House, refusing to pass a defense bill in an effort to force Senate passage of a voter ID measure pushed by President Donald Trump.
A procedural vote needed to open debate on the National Defense Authorization Act and other legislation failed 224-198 after 14 hardline Trump allies broke with party leadership for failing to allow the SAVE America Act’s voter ID requirements to be attached to the defense bill as an amendment.
Per Reuters, Johnson told reporters that party leaders would spend the next day and a half working to overcome internal differences and move toward passage of the NDAA, an annual bill that sets policy for the Pentagon.
“This is life with a small margin, small majority, and we’ll work through it,” he said.
Supreme court decisions often provide a window into the court’s ideological leanings and judicial philosophies. In recent years, the court, which is composed of six conservative and three liberal justices, has issued rulings that have dramatically reshaped the federal government and American life.
On Tuesday, the court struck down Donald Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship, delivering a blow to a central piece of the Trump administration’s agenda in one of the most highly anticipated decisions of the term.
Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the majority opinion, which ruled that the executive order issued by Trump at the start of his second term violated the 14th amendment of the constitution.
double quotation mark“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights – to freely participate in our political community,” wrote Roberts. “The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ We keep that promise today.”
Roberts, in his opinion, wrote that “the Government and the principal dissent err” when it came to their definition of “allegiance”.
double quotation mark“Natural allegiance, they contend, was no longer sufficient for citizenship; some greater quantum of allegiance was required,” he wrote.
double quotation mark“How much?” Roberts asked. “The Government offers a smorgasbord of formulations: ‘primary allegiance,’ ‘sufficient allegiance,’ ‘full allegiance,’ ‘requisite allegiance’ … What all these formulations supposedly share is that they turn on domicile – the place of one’s permanent home. At some point before the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the argument goes, it became ‘deeply rooted’ in this country that ‘[d]omicile is the key concept that creates allegiance’.”
double quotation mark“The trouble is that there is scant evidence for this dramatically revisionist view. Certainly no one said that such a change had occurred,” Roberts wrote.
Read more quotes from today’s supreme court birthright ruling:
The long-held principle of birthright citizenship, affirmed today by the US supreme court, is deeply woven into American life.
Despite the president’s effort to dismantle it, birthright citizens serve at the highest levels of his administration, including the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and FBI director Kash Patel. Americans guaranteed citizenship under the 14th amendment’s birthright clause have won Oscars, Nobel prizes, Olympic medals – and may yet help deliver something the US has chased for generations: a men’s World Cup trophy.
The long-shot dream rests, in part, with striker Folarin Balogun, whose accidental birth in Brooklyn made him eligible to play for Team USA.
Balogun’s mother had planned to return to England after a vacation in New York, but, while heavily pregnant, was prevented from boarding her flight because the airline determined that she was too close to her due date to fly safely.
After growing up in the UK, Balogun ultimately chose to play for the US – the country where he was born – even though he is also eligible to represent England and Nigeria.
“I’m extremely proud my individual journey will come full circle now,” Balogun told reporters before the tournament began. “Especially the World Cup being here, the opportunity to represent my nation. It’s going to be something special for me.”
In his opening appearance at the World Cup, the striker notched two goals against Paraguay. The US has advanced to the knockout stage, and next plays Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday in Santa Clara, Cailfornia.
Voters in Colorado are heading to the polls today in primary elections ahead of the November midterms. Some of the most closely watched competitions on Tuesday are Democratic primaries in key races for the governor’s mansion, Senate and the House.
In the gubernatorial race, US Senator Michael Bennet and state attorney general Phil Weiser, are vying to win the nomination and ultimately replace Jared Polis, the term-limited Democratic governor.
Further down ballot, first-term Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper, is being challenged by a progressive state lawmaker Julie Gonzales.
Meanwhile, Representative Diana DeGette, who has represented the Colorado’s first House district is facing a primary challenge from Melat Kiros, a democratic socialist and former lawyer. And in the state’s third district, businessman Alex Kelloff and Dwayne Romero, an Army veteran, are competing for the nomination to face off against who emerges from the Republican primary, which includes incumbent Jeff Hurd trying to hold on to his seat.
Meanwhile, Colorado’s eighth congressional district, political groups funded by tech executives have been targeting the key House race to ultimately oust Republican Gabe Evans, as my colleague Dara Kerr reports.
Democrat Manny Rutinel, has seen his campaign boosted with at least $2m in donations from committees led by the former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and crypto billionaire Chris Larsen. Rutinel is a progressive candidate running against former state representative and centrist Democrat Shannon Bird.
The House of Representatives just rejected a war powers resolution that would have prevented the United States from engaging in hostilities with Lebanon.
While southern Lebanon has been the site of fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, the United States is not publicly known to be directly involved in that conflict, though it has been an issue in the peace talks between Washington and Tehran.
Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib proposed a resolution that would have required the United States to cease any hostilities with Lebanon seven days after its passage, but the House rejected it this afternoon by a 189-235 vote.
Tlaib had proposed a similar resolution earlier this month, but it failed overwhelmingly, in part due to the opposition of House Democratic leaders, who said in a statement that “currently, there are no U.S. servicemembers involved in combat operations or hostilities in Lebanon.”
The resolution voted on today was largely the same as Tlaib’s first attempt, but included carveouts for security cooperation with the Lebanese military as well as protection of diplomatic facilities. It also specified that the resolution may not be constrained as authorizing the use of US military force in Lebanon.
More Republicans and allies of the president have decried the supreme court’s ruling that rejects Donald Trump’s executive order that tries to end birthright citizenship.
Top GOP senator Lindsey Graham, who chairs the Senate judiciary committee, said that he has been pushing legislation and a constitutional amendment “for years” to put an end to birthright citizenship.
“While I’m disappointed in the Court’s decision regarding birthright citizenship, I am determined more than ever to put an end to this major magnet for illegal immigration and birth tourism,” the South Carolina Republican said.
Similarly, Eric Schmitt, a Republican senator from Missouri, noted that in the wake of an “erroneous” supreme court ruling, Congress has “a duty to examine” the constitution’s text, and “also has the power to respond”.
“When the Court mistakenly interprets a statute, Congress can amend the statute through bicameralism and presentment,” Schmitt said.
Republican congressman Tom Kean Jr, who has not been seen in the Capitol for nearly four months without explanation, has reemerged and said that he was absent while dealing with depression.
“Several months ago, due to health concerns, I entered the hospital for some testing. I did not believe that this would result in a long-term stay. I was given the diagnosis of depression,” Kean said in a speech on the floor of the House Tuesday morning.
Kean, who represents a swing district in New Jersey, last voted on 5 March before disappearing, and his office said little about where he had gone or when he would be back. The congressman did not explain why he had kept his mental health struggles to himself, but indicated that treatment for depression took longer than expected.
“The doctors recommended that I remain in the hospital to address my illness. They explained to me that this would be the fastest way to recover, and to be honest, I was hesitant. I didn’t think that I had time for it,” Kean said, adding that he did not believe he would need a “long-term stay” in the hospital.
“When I first informed the public that I was dealing with a medical issue, I was still trying to understand what was happening myself. When I said I hope to return in a matter of weeks, I believed it. Those were the best estimates the doctors could provide, but as the over 48 million of my fellow Americans being treated for this illness have come to discover, there is no timeline for healing.”
Kean said that he was “grateful that I accepted help, because today I stand before you healthier, stronger, and excited to return to the work that I love.”
Kean’s mysterious absence fueled media speculation about where he might be, and what might have been keeping him away from the Capitol, where his absence complicated the GOP’s ability to control of the House of Representatives. Last week, a New York Times reporter found Kean at his New Jersey home, but the congressman declined comment.
In 2023, Democratic senator John Fetterman sought inpatient treatment for depression, but in that case, his office promptly announced his hospitalization.
In a rebuke to Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, the supreme court upheld birthright citizenship, which provides nearly all people born in the United States with citizenship. In a 6-3 opinion, the justices ruled that the Trump administration violated a provision of the 14th amendment, which was affirmed by the supreme court 128 years ago. “Children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause,” the ruling reads. The NAACP, a civil rights group dedicated to advancing the rights of Black people, called the decision a “powerful affirmation of the constitution and the enduring promise of equality it represents”. Voto Latino, a non-profit pushing for Latino voting power, said that “the court drew a permanent line in the sand – defeating a radical attempt to divide our families and strip away any doubt that our community belongs here”.
The president said the decision was “too bad”, but appeared undeterred in his quest to end birthright citizenship, turning his attention to Congress. Instead of trying to pass a constitutional amendment, Trump is pushing for lawmakers to create new legislation that establishes exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to parents who do not have permanent legal status in the US. “Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship,” he wrote on Truth Social. But that will also be an uphill battle, as any legislation would need to overcome the 60-vote filibuster.
The supreme court also ruled that schools can determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports teams based on biological sex, effectively upholding a ban on transgender women and girls from taking part in female sports teams. The ruling centered on the case of Lindsay Hecox, a college student in Idaho, and Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 15-year-old high school student from West Virginia. The court said that West Virginia and Idaho did not violate Title IX – which bars educational programs that receive federal funding from discriminating based on sex. But the court’s three liberal justices said in a dissenting opinion that the bans do impede on the constitution’s equal protection clause. The far-reaching ruling is likely to pave the way for similar bans throughout the US.
Also today, the supreme court justices struck down limits on campaign spending in federal elections by political parties. In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the court held that the law’s “limits on political parties” coordinated expenditures violate the first amendment.
The supreme court also declined to consider the legality of laws that restrict people aged 18 to 20 from purchasing or using firearms, but said it will consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles, often called assault weapons, violate the second amendment.
But the supreme court will consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles, often called assault weapons, violate the second amendment.
The justices said that they will hear appeals challenging bans on the AR-15 and similar semiautomatic firearms in Connecticut and the Chicago area.
Similar laws are in place in about a dozen states, covering major cities like New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC Congress allowed a national assault weapons ban to expire in 2004, but Democrats have supported renewing it in response to a series of mass shootings. States have also continued to pass their own laws, including recent measures in Virginia and Rhode Island.
It is the latest high-profile dispute over guns to reach the court since its conservative majority handed down a landmark ruling in 2022 that expanded second amendment rights and spawned challenges to firearm laws around the country.
Arguments are expected to be heard in the fall.
The Connecticut law was passed after a mass shooter used an AR-15 to kill 26 children and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012.
Also today, the supreme court declined to consider the legality of laws that restrict people aged 18 to 20 from purchasing or using firearms, an area of contention following the court’s expansion of gun rights in recent years.
The justices turned away appeals challenging a federal ban on handgun purchases by people ages 18 to 20, as well as a similar state law in Florida imposing the same age requirement on all firearms purchases. Lower courts had rejected the arguments by plaintiffs in those cases that those laws violate the US Constitution’s second amendment right to “keep and bear arms”.
The supreme court’s rejection of Pennsylvania’s appeal in another case, however, left in place a lower court’s ruling that the state’s laws that ban people ages 18 to 20 from carrying firearms in public during a declared state of emergency violate the second amendment.
It comes after a ruling on 26 June in which the court struck down a Hawaii law restricting the carrying of handguns on private property open to the public, like most businesses, without the owner’s permission. And on 18 June it limited the application of a decades-old federal law that bars firearms possession by certain drug users, narrowing a measure that had threatened the gun rights of millions of Americans who use marijuana and own firearms.
In today’s decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that “the Court exhaustively canvassed the text and history of the Citizenship Clause and at no point identified any evidence that the ratifiers thought themselves to be imposing a domicile limitation”.
Roberts repeatedly bats down the idea that “domicile” was much more expansive an idea, and that primary allegiance to the US was commonly seen as part of that definition, both arguments the government tried to make in its case. He writes that “there is scant evidence for this dramatically revisionist view”.
The quest to overturn birthright citizenship has gained steam among some conservatives in recent years, though most legal scholars still believe the amendment has been interpreted correctly. The administration is relying in part on the legal arguments of a white supremacists from the late 1800s, the Washington Post reported. John Eastman, a lawyer who worked with Trump to try to overturn the 2020 election results who has since been disbarred in California, is also a key proponent of the effort to overturn birthright citizenship, Politico reported.
Source: Guardian - World News
