The Supreme Court of the United States is currently sitting with one of the most consequential decisions of our lifetimes as Americans. It has nothing to do with abortion, gun rights, or anything we would commonly see in the court. SCOTUS is currently weighing President Trump's executive order on ending birthright citizenship in the United States.
That is the idea that being born on U.S. soil makes you a permanent American citizen. Which in the 1700s, when the Constitution was written, was a fair law. However, over the years, countries have found their ways of gaming that system to their advantage. Which has resulted in the trend of "anchor babies," or parents who come to the U.S. just before having their kid, have them here, then go back to their country. All to use that child when they are 18 years old to then sponsor them for their own citizenship.
It has been used, abused, and needs to be put to an end. President Trump has tried with his executive order, but liberal lawfare has blocked it to the point of the nation's high court having to decide. President Trump is not too optimistic either, as he said recently, he predicts the court will rule against him. He added the court is "already packed" for Democrats as well.
Author Richard Epstein, who is releasing a new book called "The Myth of Birthright Citizenship: What the Fourteenth Amendment Really Says," disagrees with Trump, however. He says there is complexity to the issue that is leaving the door open for a favorable ruling.
"Ther are two parts to the problem, one is the people who just come in randomly, and the other is the people who come in consciously with anchor babies and the people on birthright tourism," he says.
Logically, it is not very complex. An Indian woman traveling to the United States while 7 months pregnant, having a child on American soil, then fleeing with that now "American citizen" child to India, is not remotely what the founding fathers intended. It has been abused so much that an American citizenship is almost pointless, because apparently everyone can just be an American.
"I think it is a very bad precedent for people to come here to get a secondary citizenship in the United States, while not giving up their own citizenship anywhere else," says Epstein. "Conceptually, if you look at the Constitution...everything that has been said in support of birthright citizenship is just flat out wrong."
In the recent argument before the Supreme Court, some arguments for birthright stood out, and not in a flattering way. Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson basically made the argument that if you are in vacation in Japan, and get convicted of a crime there, that makes you a Japanese citizen. Yes, a Supreme Court Justice actually made that argument.
To make it worse, Justice Amy Coney Barrett argued that some people do not know who their father or mother is in some cases, and that trying to figure those things out would "be too hard." So, by her logic and argument, we should just let everyone be a citizen. It borders on being a comedic skit rather than legitimate legal precedent.
The Administration's arguments have been rock solid, presenting multiple cases of Chinese nationals who had anchor babies here. Just for the children to come back to the country and release harmful viruses on crops. hat is the other part of the argument that, legally, should hold up. This birthright deal has been abused not just by regular people, but by our enemies.
"These are not people who just sort of wander into the UNted States and just by chance give birth...there are groups in China and other places that facilitate these transactions," Epstein says.
The future of the nation and the meaning of being American hangs in the Supreme Court's hands.
A ruling is expected sometime in June.
Photo: Roberto Schmidt / Getty Images News / Getty Images