Great Scott!! The insurrection of Jan. 6 reminded us of the Confederates attempt to usurp the Union. Now Trump, with his promise to make America great (make that grate) has issued a tsunami of executive orders, including a stroke to end birthright citizenship. Cue the Dred Scott decision. If you’ve forgotten those civic lessons, in the landmark 1857 case Scott v. Sandford, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, were not U.S. citizens.
Chief Justice Roger Taney, delivered the opinion of the court and ruled that African Americans were not “constituent members of the sovereignty … and they are not included under the word ‘citizens’ in the Constitution, and therefore can claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.” In short, Black Americans had no rights which the white man was bound to respect. It would take a Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the 13th and 14th Amendments to overturn the decision.
Trump’s order is reminiscent of one a generation ago that sought to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents who were not legal residents, but it didn’t succeed nor did others. What Trump is seeking to do is to amend the 14th Amendment, which states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state therein they reside.”
It is highly improbable that Trump’s executive order can revoke the 14th Amendment, though we’ve seen the demise of other improbabilities. And the old snake oil salesman may have another card up his sleeve, perhaps restricting short-term visas to pregnant travelers, thereby intercepting a possible birth in the U.S.
To date, Trump’s order, which was planned to take effect in February, has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge in Seattle, a measure joined by Democratic attorneys general from 22 states.
Knowing the chicanery of Trump and his allies, the birthright issue is just the tip of the iceberg — and the emphasis here on ice stands for U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, which has already arrested and detained thousands of immigrants, half of whom have no criminal record. But this, of course, means little to a tyrant with no respect for the law or human rights.