{"id":219,"date":"2026-06-26T14:38:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T14:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=219"},"modified":"2026-06-26T14:38:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T14:38:38","slug":"the-presidents-birthright-citizenship-order-is-not-just-unconstitutional-its-crazy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=219","title":{"rendered":"The President\u2019s Birthright Citizenship Order is Not Just Unconstitutional. It\u2019s Crazy\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The president\u2019s challenge to birthright citizenship is more than unconstitutional, as the Supreme Court will probably hold\u2014it\u2019s crazy. Why? Because it would affect not just children born in the future\u2014as it claims\u2014but would threaten the citizenship of every living, native-born American, whether aged 25, 50, or 75. It would also mean that a U.S. birth certificate would be inadequate to prove American citizenship, thereby becoming almost useless. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Mamdani\u2019s Movement Interests May Collide with His Mayoral Interests<\/a><\/p>\n

How can this be? It is all about two words: \u201cprospective\u201d and \u201cretrospective.\u201d The executive order may be \u201cprospective,\u201d but the Constitution of the United States is not.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The President\u2019s Executive Order, by its own terms, is \u201cprospective,\u201d meaning a rule that applies for the future. Its rule\u2014that a child born in the United States is not a U.S. citizen unless at least one parent is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident\u2014applies 30 days after the Executive Order becomes effective. \u00a0<\/p>\n

That is what \u201cprospective\u201d means\u2014applying only in the future. \u00a0<\/p>\n

But citizenship is defined in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution (\u201cborn in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof\u201d), and the Constitution is \u201cthe supreme law of the land.\u201d Therefore, the birthright citizenship executive order is valid only if the Constitution also rejects birthright citizenship. That is why the administration argued before the Supreme Court earlier this term that there is no birthright citizenship. \u00a0<\/p>\n

But\u2014and here\u2019s the rub\u2014the Constitution is not \u201cprospective,\u201d but \u201cretrospective,\u201d that is, applying to past events and to present consequences of past events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Put in simple terms, Trump\u2019s executive order may claim to reject \u201cbirthright citizenship,\u201d only for the future, but if the Constitution rejects \u201cbirthright citizenship,\u201d it rejects it for the past, present, and the future. It would reject it for everyone\u2014you, me, and every person born in this country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more What Life on Most College Campuses is Really Like<\/a><\/p>\n

What would this mean? Today, there are 300 million U.S. residents born in this country. Many or even most would probably still be American citizens under the no-birthright rule, but our birth certificates would not be enough to prove it. Citizenship would depend on proving that one\u2019s parents were citizens, for which their own birth certificates would not be sufficient. And on and on, perhaps for generations back. \u00a0<\/p>\n

This idea would wreak havoc on our voting rolls. Most voters prove their eligibility by showing their U.S. birth certificates, but that would no longer work. They would need their parents\u2019 birth certificates as well, and possibly documentation for multiple generations. The President\u2019s proposed SAVE Act, which relies mostly on birth certificates and passports, would also be pointless. Beyond voting, the decoupling of birth certificates and U.S. citizenship could have undreamed-of baleful consequences. \u00a0<\/p>\n

One might seek solace in the Supreme Court\u2019s having, in some cases, given new constitutional rulings a \u201cprospective-only\u201d application. Still, those have typically involved new criminal procedure rules that the Court ruled did not apply to existing convictions and sentences. No principle could create a Constitution different for me than for my descendants. Therefore, we\u2019re all in peril.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One may wonder why these points have not been front and center in the arguments over the executive order and birthright citizenship. Rest assured, if the Supreme Court upholds the executive order as the term comes to an end and rejects birthright citizenship, which is doubtful but hardly inconceivable given this Court, the result could be a national cataclysm beyond anyone\u2019s imagination. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more The Battle of Little Bighorn and Why It Never Ends<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even this Supreme Court is unlikely to embrace Trump\u2019s efforts to undo birthright citizenship, but if it did, it would be chaos for everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,11,18,2],"tags":[87],"class_list":["post-219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-economy","category-law-and-justice","category-politics","tag-tagged-birthright-citizenship-fourteenth-ammendment-save-act-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nThe President\u2019s Birthright Citizenship Order is Not Just Unconstitutional. 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