On birthright citizenship, Trump could lose even bigger next time

President Trump has declared that he will seek reconsideration of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. Barbara, which upheld birthright citizenship for nearly every child born in the U.S. That would be a risky gambit. If the Supreme Court were actually to revisit the birthright case, Trump would be far more likely to lose votes than gain them.

Never one to accept defeat graciously, Trump called the court’s decision “absolutely insane” and a “miscarriage of justice that will destroy America,” even though it simply reaffirmed a precedent that has been in place for 128 years. He falsely added that “Signs and Billboards are being put up all over our Southern Border, and Mexico, advertising BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP” for $4,000.

Despite the faux crisis, chances that the Supreme Court would reconsider its decision are slim. The court last granted such a petition in 1965 and has not reversed a decision since 1956. 

The five-justice majority opinion, holding his executive order unconstitutional, is rock solid. The case turned on the wording of the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, which states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”  

As Chief Justice John Roberts plainly put it, jurisdiction means “the power of the United States to govern those within its territory,” and the 14th Amendment thus “guarantees citizenship to children born in the United States of parents unlawfully or temporarily present in the country.” 

The other side was seriously fractured. Only two justices — Clarence Thomas, who wrote the principal dissent, and........

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