Today’s Supreme Court ruling on birthright citizenship is a win for the constitutional promise that belonging in this country is not determined by any single government. The Court rejected the racist attempt to take away citizenship from babies born on American soil, reaffirming a commitment this country has kept since the 19th century. As Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the majority, citizenship is “the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” extended by the Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment to “every free-born person in this land.”
As Jews, birthright citizenship is part of our experience. We were once the foreigners in this land, arriving at Ellis Island and other ports fleeing pogroms, persecution and statelessness. Many of our great-grandparents were never naturalized, but their children were American from the moment of birth — citizens entitled to organize, to vote, to state protection, to the right to fight for this country’s promises.
Zionism teaches us that self-determination is a right that exists prior to anyone’s permission to exercise it; that no single leader should get to define us, marginalize us, or erase us. A citizenship that exists only at the pleasure of whichever administration holds power is conditional residency, not belonging.
The Fourteenth Amendment was written, in part, to guard against exactly that danger: it made birthright citizenship a constitutional fact, not a policy preference, so no president or Congress could make American belonging contingent on their own beliefs.
Next week, America turns 250. This country’s real promise was never to freeze who belongs in place — it was to keep expanding the circle.
While some have used their power trying to roll back rights and protections, today’s ruling is a reminder of what the American dream is supposed to be about: a country that creates more inclusion and opportunity, not less. Citizenship is the foundation every other right rests upon. An attack on birthright citizenship is an attack on the basic architecture of American freedom. We are relieved the Supreme Court agrees.