Birthright citizenship

The Mirror, UK - President Donald Trump failed to sit through a lengthy Supreme Court hearing discussing his unprecedented challenge to birthright citizenship on Wednesday, staying for around an hour and a half before dipping.  The president stayed for the arguments made by U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer in favor of his plan to limit birthright citizenship, but then left as soon as Cecillia Wang, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), began arguing against it, according to CNN.

NY Times -   As the justices prepared to hear this landmark case today, reporters for The Times took a close look at their family histories. In each, the reporters found newcomers to America — colonists, enslaved people and immigrants alike — who paved the way for a descendant to ascend to the highest court in the land.  “These nine men and women will now sit in judgment of citizenship for their fellow countrymen,” they wrote.

It’s a remarkable bit of journalism, built out of immigration and census records, ship manifests, biographies, memoirs and speeches related to the justices’ families, well worth reading as we wait for the arguments to commence. You can find it here.

Time -  For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has guaranteed that nearly anyone born on American soil is a citizen of the United States. That principle, a cornerstone of U.S. law and family life, is once again facing an unprecedented challenge.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will consider whether an executive order by President Donald Trump can strip citizenship from children born to parents who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents—a legal question that could reshape the lives of hundreds of thousands of families and raise questions about the status of children already born.

The case, which focuses on the interpretation of a single clause in the 14th Amendment, has drawn intense attention from legal scholars and political leaders. If the court allows Trump’s order to take effect, it would mark the first time in modern American history that citizenship at birth depends on a parent’s legal status. Immigration experts say the change would reach far beyond undocumented immigrants, affecting those who are living and working in the United States legally and forcing all parents to navigate a system that does not yet exist to determine whether their newborns are citizens.

For many families, that uncertainty is already taking hold. “There’s a lot of fear,” says Conchita Cruz, an attorney and co-executive director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, which represents hundreds of thousands of people seeking protection or legal status in the U.S. She said her organization has heard from expecting parents who are anxious not only about their children’s legal status, but about the possibility of detention, separation, or statelessness. The stress, she said, has cast “a cloud over what should be a joyful time.”