The Supreme Court just told Donald Trump that the Constitution means what it says, a concept that apparently required a 6-3 ruling to clarify. In a decision that rejects the president's most aggressive immigration power grab to date, the court upheld birthright citizenship for every child born on American soil. Clarence Thomas, not to be outdone, responded with 91 pages of thoughts that essentially agreed with Trump's position that the 14th Amendment was only ever meant for formerly enslaved people.
What the Court Actually Said
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, and he went all the way back to the founding to make the point. According to NPR, Roberts traced birthright citizenship to the nation's origins, arguing that just as the colonists demanded 'the rights of Englishmen' more than 250 years ago, Congress amended the Constitution after the Civil War to lock in automatic citizenship for any child born on U.S. soil. Full stop. No asterisks.
Five justices signed onto Roberts' full opinion. Brett Kavanaugh, being Brett Kavanaugh, agreed with the outcome but got there by a different road. He said he would have struck down Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship based on a 1952 law, but left a small door cracked open for Congress to eventually limit citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants or people on temporary visas. That door is probably going to get kicked in by Republicans within the week.
The ruling lands at the end of a term that also saw the court let states ban transgender girls from competing in publicly funded school sports, and blow up campaign finance limits on how much political parties can spend on candidates. So: one win for constitutional interpretation as written, two more gifts to the right. The court giveth and the court immediately taketh away.
The Dissent That Reads Like a MAGA Telegram
Justice Clarence Thomas authored the lead dissent. All 91 pages of it. Ninety-one pages, in case you needed a moment with that number.
According to NPR's reporting, Thomas sided with Trump's core assertion that the 14th Amendment was never meant to apply to anyone other than former slaves and their descendants. Not immigrants. Not the children of immigrants. Just the specific population the amendment was written to protect after the Civil War, and no one else, ever, for any reason.
This is the same Justice Clarence Thomas who has, for decades, insisted that the Constitution must be interpreted according to original intent. The man who believes the founding document is a rigid historical artifact, not a living one. Apparently 'original intent' stops being relevant the moment it produces an outcome the current Republican president dislikes. Ninety-one pages. He wrote ninety-one pages.
Colorado Voters Have Some Opinions About Washington
While the court was busy with constitutional law, Colorado held its primary elections, and voters were busy delivering their own verdicts. NPR reports that Senator Michael Bennet, who has been in the Senate since 2009, lost his gubernatorial primary bid. The knock against him, according to Colorado Public Radio's Caitlyn Kim, was simple: what exactly have you been doing up there, and why haven't you done more to fight Trump?
In Denver, 29-year-old democratic socialist Melat Kiros beat longtime incumbent Representative Diana DeGette for the Democratic nomination in the state's 1st Congressional District. NPR reports that Kiros pulled in younger voters with a platform that includes Medicare for All and ending U.S. aid to Israel. Republicans are already running with this result as evidence that Colorado Democrats have gone off the deep end.
Meanwhile, progressive candidate Manny Rutinel advanced to November in a House race that could matter for Democratic control of the chamber. That race, between two Latino candidates for a seat currently held by a Republican, is one to watch. The Democratic Socialists of America are now on a run. Last week they won two New York primaries and several state assembly races, and advanced to mayoral contests in both D.C. and Los Angeles. The party's centrists have got to be having a terrible summer.
The World Cup Is Playing in a Furnace and FIFA Shrugged
A massive heat wave is pushing temperatures into triple digits across much of the eastern United States, which is a great time to be hosting the knockout rounds of the World Cup, where one loss means you go home. NPR's analysis found that more than one-third of tournament matches are at high risk of dangerous heat and humidity conditions. This was, per NPR, entirely predictable based on past weather data.
FIFA told NPR's Rebecca Hersher that it did its best, scheduling matches in the evening and booking venues with roofs where available. They've added two extra water breaks per match. NPR found that none of this actually solves the problem. Philadelphia, for instance, was flagged as one of the highest-risk host cities, with the July 4th match there projected to be played in genuinely dangerous conditions. FIFA did not respond to NPR's questions about whether cooling buses, misters, or free cold water would be available for fans at matches this week.
So to recap: a global soccer organization scheduled a summer tournament in the American South and Mid-Atlantic during a heat emergency, added two water breaks, and then stopped returning phone calls. The U.S. team plays its first knockout round game tonight in San Francisco against Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is at least not Philadelphia on the Fourth of July.
The Dingo Take
Here's what the birthright citizenship ruling actually tells us about where we are. The Trump administration put forward a legal argument so aggressive that six Supreme Court justices, including three he appointed, said no. Roberts had to go back to the Revolutionary War to explain why. That's not a close call on the merits. That's a president testing whether he could rewrite constitutional law by executive order and discovering, at the top of the judicial system, that he cannot. For now.
The real number to remember is not six. It's the one: Kavanaugh's solo concurrence that left open the possibility of Congress acting to restrict citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants. Congressional Republicans noticed that door. They will walk through it. The fight over birthright citizenship is not over because one executive order failed. It is simply moving to the next arena, and the people who want to end it are patient.
And then there's Thomas. A man appointed to interpret the Constitution, writing 91 pages to argue that a constitutional amendment doesn't mean what it plainly says, because agreeing with it would embarrass the president. Whatever you think about originalism as a judicial philosophy, this is not it. This is a dissent written to be read aloud at a rally. The court blocked Trump today. The question is how many more attempts it takes before someone on that bench decides blocking him isn't worth the trouble.
