The Supreme Court delivered a monumentally bad decision last week in Trump v. Barbara, holding that, with limited exceptions, children born on U.S. soil become citizens at birth.
Much of the majority’s reasoning rested on mythology rather than a faithful reading of the law.
The court has closed one path. It has not closed them all.
No one can say with certainty when the United States began treating the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens as citizens. Google and Wikipedia claim the practice dates to the ratification of the 14th Amendment in 1868. Both also assert that the Supreme Court affirmed birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens in United States v. Wong Kim Ark.
Both claims are wrong.
After the Civil War, the citizenship provisions of the 14th Amendment
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