The Heritage Foundation has expressed approval of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Trump v. CASA, Inc., which resulted in a 6-3 ruling that partially stayed several nationwide injunctions issued by lower courts. These injunctions had been against the Trump administration’s executive order dated January 20, which aimed to end universal birthright citizenship.
Hans von Spakovsky, who manages the Election Law Reform Initiative and serves as a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, commented on the decision: “The Supreme Court’s rebuke of nationwide or universal injunctions is an important step toward restoring the judiciary to its proper constitutional role. Judges have the power to guard the rights of the people who come before them, but they don’t have the power to set or derail nationwide policy. They’re judges, not presidents or legislators, and today’s decision reminds them of that.”
Despite this development, questions regarding universal birthright citizenship remain unresolved. Lora Ries, director of Heritage’s Border Security and Immigration Center, noted: “The Court did not yet address the time-sensitive merits of ending the erroneous universal birthright citizenship interpretation of the 14th Amendment. Rather, the court tossed that decision back down to the lower court to decide. The longer this issue goes undecided, the more illegal aliens and temporary visitors will exploit the universal birthright citizenship interpretation to prevent their deportation and to receive financial and long-term immigration benefits available for U.S. citizens.”
Heritage Senior Legal Fellow Amy Swearer also weighed in on the matter: “A majority of this Court once again demonstrated a commitment to saying what the law is, and not what they wish it to be. This, of course, will prove very important in a case where advocates of universal birthright citizenship routinely mischaracterize or ignore the compelling historical evidence supporting a far more limited original meaning of the Citizenship Clause.”