kalm wrote: ↑Fri Jun 27, 2025 6:29 pm
The more I think about the more it calls into question. Would SCOTUS have the guts to overturn the 14th amendment in the fall?
Will district court decisions on any constitutional matter matter be left to stand at least in that district or once SCOTUS gets around to ruling on them? If a kid is granted citizenship in one state or district will they not be considered a citizen in another? What about gun laws? Or shoukd every case just go straight to SCOTUS
There seems to be potential here for some serious confusion and contradiction on a national level.
I haven't seen or read anything in the opinions of the current court that would say that. In addition, SCOTUS can't overturn an amendment. How is something that is in the Constitution (amendments are indeed part of the Constitution) possibly unconstitutional? That's paradoxical to say the least. Clarence Thomas has become a weird pariah in the woods, and Alito will join him at times in lunatic wanderings, but none of the other 7 would seem to be trending in that direction. Birthright citizenship is currently the law of the land, as per Congress, as per SCOTUS review over the past 150 years, and will continue to be in place until someone passes an amendment to not have it. Congress has enough issues just passing regular legislation, so I don't see them being up for passing something so contentious. So outside of Alito and Thomas, who would the other 3 votes be who would overturn birthright citizenship? Gorsuch would be the only other one even in the ballpark, and since he's probably the most committed to what's written and how it was understood I strongly doubt he'd do it considering the mountain of understanding in the US, both before and after the 14th amendment, that would lean towards birthright. Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, if there's any overriding theme of their jurisprudence, is that they want Congress to make laws. Everything Congress has done, including passing this amendment, would be pointing at birthright citizenship. To overturn that, they would have to almost take a 180 from how they've been ruling. And after that you have the liberal judges - Jackson and Sotomayor are automatic no's just on the political aspect of it, and Kagan is in the same camp as Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Barrett and wouldn't overturn what Congress, the Constitution, and prior SCOTUS opinions have laid down. The math just doesn't work to get to 3 votes, let alone the 5 to make this ruling.