Norman Wong, right, and his wife, Maureen Wong, stand in front of a wall of family photos at their Brentwood home in 2024. Norman is descended from Wong Kim Ark, a San Francisco native whose win in an 1898 Supreme Court case set the precedent for birthright citizenship.

For Norman Wong, the Supreme Court’s ruling on Tuesday that reaffirmed birthright citizenship is a vindication of the battle his grandfather, Wong Kim Ark, fought and won.

“When he stood up for his rights, he stood up for all,” Wong told me after the court struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order to limit a right enshrined in the Constitution. 

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Wong Kim Ark was a San Francisco native whose victory in an 1898 Supreme Court case established the legal precedent for birthright citizenship. He sued after being denied reentry to the U.S. after a trip to China, asserting that he was a citizen under the 14th Amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”

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In a 6-3 ruling on Tuesday, the court’s majority said again that anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen.

The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 and gave citizenship and legal rights to formerly enslaved African Americans and their descendants. The question for courts in Wong’s lawsuit was whether those rights applied to other non-white people born in the U.S. who were denied citizenship. 

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Norman Wong said the 14th Amendment has........

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