Overview
- The justices will hear Trump v. Barbara on April 1, while the executive order limiting birthright citizenship remains blocked in lower courts.
- An SCOTUSblog review of 65 merits briefs reports that many self-described originalists give little attention to slavery and Lincoln despite their relevance to the Fourteenth Amendment.
- The analysis notes that 33 briefs invoke originalism, yet petitioner-side filings rarely engage the 1866 context, whereas Akhil Amar’s brief highlights the child-focused text and the “under the flag” understanding.
- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops submitted an amicus brief urging the Court to reject the order as unconstitutional and contrary to human dignity.
- Legal scholar Eugene Volokh publicized his amicus defending birthright citizenship on common-law grounds reinforced by Wong Kim Ark, citing narrow exceptions for diplomats, hostile occupiers, and then-separate tribal members.