Ketanji Brown Jackson Knows What 1776 Meant

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a long essay on the revolutionary meaning of the Declaration of Independence and how it was given life by the Black Americans, free and enslaved, who wielded its language of equality against bondage and racial discrimination. Unexpectedly, the piece made for good reading alongside Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s concurrence in Trump v. Barbara, the birthright citizenship case that was decided just before the Fourth of July.

In Trump v. Barbara, a 6-3 majority of the court struck down President Trump’s 2025 executive order purporting to end birthright citizenship for certain categories of immigrants. But of........

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