Legal experts sound alarm after razor-thin birthright vote: 'The most insane part'

[LetMyPeopleVote]

This was really a 5-4 opinion. This is really scary. trump and these racist assholes are not going to stop going after Birthright Citizenship

Legal experts sound alarm after razor-thin birthright vote: 'The most insane part' #RawStory

— #TuckFrump (@realtuckfrumper.bsky.social) 2026-06-30T16:58:08.000Z

https://www.rawstory.com/supreme-court-birthright-reax/

Reactions were mounting among legal analysts Tuesday after the Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump's birthright citizenship order.

The divided court ruled in a 6-3 majority decision in Trump v. Barbara, upholding the 14th Amendment and blocking Trump's efforts to eliminate birthright citizenship, "but the Court split 5-4 on whether a future Congress could do what President Trump could not," CNN reported.

Legal experts and political commentators weighed in on the high court's decision.

"A shockingly close call on how to read plain English in the first sentence of a constitutional amendment," Adam Klasfeld, editor-in-chief of All Rise News, wrote on X.

"It was struck down 6-3 decision, although only 5-4 on the Constitutional question. Four justices would have rewritten the Constitution's plain text and ignored centuries of precedent on the scope of birthright citizenship. Thankfully, they were the minority," immigration attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick wrote on X...

"A shockingly close call on how to read plain English in the first sentence of a constitutional amendment," Adam Klasfeld, editor-in-chief of All Rise News, wrote on X.

"Everyone should be extremely concerned that birthright citizenship was 5-4 and not unanimous," Mueller, She Wrote podcaster Allison Gill wrote on Bluesky.

"Jesus, three dissenting votes on birthright just might be the most insane part of this court's entire awful term," MS NOW host Chris Hayes wrote on Bluesky.

[Ponietz]

1. John Roberts: "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race"

That worked for the SCROTUS Six in affirmative action and other cases, but the dissenters turn around and discriminate on the basis of race analyzing the 14th Amendment in a different context.
Disingenuous, convoluted and impossible to untangle a viable legal principle. Just self-serving partisan hypocritical bullshit.

[dalton99a]

2. It is utterly delusional to think birthright citizenship is safe. Republicans will try to kill it like abortion.

NYT comments:

Mark
Portland, ME · 6m ago

Occam's Razor. This isn't surprising. Six ultra-right-wing justices were appointed to legislate unpopular laws from the bench because the Heritage Foundation knows that it's otherwise politically impossible. What was shocking was that any of them dissented.


Stephen N
Toronto, Canada · 9m ago

The six to three decision was really five to four, since Kavanaugh ruled against the president on statutory grounds, agreeing with the dissenters on the crucial constitutional issue.

Two conclusions may be drawn from the decisions handed down by the conservative bloc in Trump's second term. First, the conservative majority is overtly partisan. Trump is shown a deference not extended to his democratic predecessors. Second, the majority is bent on regime change --the transformation of American politics and government --through the creation, by judicial fiat, of what is best described as the monarchical presidency.

That the bloc split over the question of birthright citizenship should not be taken to mean that principle still carries weight with at least two of the conservative Justices. More likely, allowing President Trump to eliminate birthright citizenship by executive fiat was seen as a bridge too far by Justices Roberts and Coney Barrett. Unlike the voting rights cases, there was no way to disguise a vote in Trump's favor as upholding precedent. And stripping tends of millions of Americans of their citizenship would have caused a furor inimical to the majority's ultimate goal of regime change.


E
Nyc · 14m ago

Based not just on this decision but a host of others, it is pretty clear that Alito & Thomas will vote with Trump regardless of the issue and find some argument or other to support what he wants. So those are not surprises. The surprises here were Gorsuch and the half-hearted concurrence of Kavanaugh who said the order isn't valid due to Federal law, not the constitution. Apparently illegal immigrants and those on a tourist visa are not subject to the jurisdiction of the US. So if you want to put out a hit on someone, hire one of them.


mcm
New Orleans · 17m ago

Of course, there are six bought and paid for political hacks on the court. Working for corporate interests to establish a permanent, plutocratic, (vaguely) theocratic overclass. The constitution is in the way of that, even if, occasionally they follow it.


Amateur Critic
Philadelphia · 19m ago

Let’s turn the argument around. If SCOTUS had decided that people born here of parents here illegally are not citizens because they are not under the jurisdiction of the U.S. government, then would the government have any legal means of deporting them?


James C.
Maryland · 19m ago

That the birthright citizenship decision was so close shows again that the so-called Supreme Court is dominated by extreme right, political hacks such as Alito and Thomas. The very clear language of the 14th Amendment says that all people born or naturalized in the US are citizens. To state otherwise makes no sense. If the Court had allowed Trump to void birthright citizenship, every person born in the US could have had their citizenship challenged and they could have been required to submit proof of citizenship. How would you like to have your proof of citizenship reviewed by someone thinking like Alito, Thomas or Stephen Miller?


J.F.
Chicago · 28m ago

It's disturbing how close this Constitutional amendment came to being overturned.

[Ocelot II]

3. My theory, for what it's worth (and maybe that's not much), is that both Kavanaugh and Gorsuch

are trying to position themselves to become the next Chief Justice. Roberts is 71 and there's been no indication that he intends to retire soon, but when the time comes a new CJ will have to be chosen. That appointment is made by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and while Chief Justices aren't necessarily chosen from among sitting associate justices, sometimes they are. Kavanaugh's lame concurrence and Gorsuch's even lamer dissent (opinions that should have embarrassed both of them) indicated their allegiance to the GOP's anti-immigration principles while the majority preserved the constitutionality of the 14th Amendment's birthright citizenship clause. In other words, no harm, no foul. Both of them must have known that the majority opinion was the correct one, but that they could offer a contrary, pro-GOP position without changing the outcome (the dissents of Thomas and Alito were a foregone conclusion since they always side with Trump no matter what the case is about). Having presented their credentials as GOP anti-immigration ideologues they can sit back and wait for Roberts to retire during (they hope) some future GOP administration in which the president will give one of them the big chair in the middle of the bench.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. This ruling should have been 9-0

[dalton99a]

5. +1

[Martin68]

6. Even with unmistakably clear wording in the constitution, 4 radicals voted to approve Trump's Executive Order to undo

birthright citizenship. Those 4 are unredeemably corrupt and should be impeached.

[ColoringFool]

7. Never Forget: Smiley Old Mint-Sharing Dubya Called The US Constitution.......

"JUST A GODDAMNED PIECE OF PAPER."

"It's just a goddamned piece of paper!" : George W Bush ... | Item Details | Research Catalog | NYPL https://share.google/Bmd38iQVNRP3gSeiz

[Imalittleteapot]

8. Supreme Court gave GOP a lasting gift.

Birthright Citizenship will be a popular GOP talking point before the midterms and the next Presidential election.

[WestMichRad]

9. THIS!!

[surfered]

10. Turns out the "strict constructionists " aren't so strict when it comes to right wing nuttery.

[surfered]

11. Not sure Trump's mother was a citizen when he was born. Where's ICE now? Off to Alligator Alcatraz with him!