Opinion

MIKE DAVIS: Sanity must be restored to birthright citizenship

Justice Gorsuch noted the legal community's view of the Wong Kim Ark holding was 'a mess'

By Mike Davis Fox News

Published April 2, 2026 8:24am EDT

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Supreme Court hears landmark case on birthright citizenship

The Heritage Foundation's Roger Severino joined 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss the Supreme Court hearing a landmark case addressing birthright citizenship.

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At the core of our sovereignty is the right to determine who is entitled to citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment grants citizenship to people born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara, a case concerning the lawfulness of President Trump’s commonsense executive order that restores the original understanding of birthright citizenship. Joe Biden mass-imported millions of illegal immigrants, but these individuals have no right to citizenship at birth. The text and history of the Fourteenth Amendment make that clear, and the Supreme Court should rule accordingly.

Leftists have argued wrongly that the question before the Court was settled a century ago in United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898). The Chinese parents in that case were legal permanent residents of the United States, and the Court held that their children were entitled to citizenship. The case had nothing to do with temporary visitors to the United States, nor did it have anything to do with children born to illegal immigrants. After Wong Kim Ark, the view in the legal community of its holding was, as Justice Neil Gorsuch put it, "a mess." Many scholars, including a dozen treatises, for instance, agreed with the position that Solicitor General John Sauer took; that is, Wong Kim Ark........

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