Arguments over birthright citizenship will reach the U.S. Supreme Court this week, but while many Americans might think this is just an “immigration issue” with little impact on your daily life, for Black Americans, the 14th Amendment isn’t just a policy. Since the 19th century, the amendment has been the literal legal floor that buried the Dred Scott decision while finally giving Black folks autonomy in the nation. Now, it’s all at risk and we should all be paying close attention.
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Justices are set to hear arguments over Trump’s birthright citizenship restrictions beginning on Wednesday (April 1). We previously told you the president attempted to axe birthright citizenship on his first day back in the White House and was met with serious backlash– namely from civil rights leaders accusing him of trying to destroy Black history.
“There is nothing Donald Trump won’t try to bulldoze and rebuild in his divisive image, not even our Constitution,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson wrote Tuesday (March 31) in a statement.
The 14th Amendment of 1868 grants citizenship to all people born or naturalized in this country– including those previously enslaved. So with the Citizenship Clause on the line now, Johnson warned that Trump’s attack could impact the rights of Black descendants of slavery.
“Congress first enshrined the 14th Amendment to ensure that enslaved Africans and their children received full rights, and for more than a century, it has been upheld by the courts and scholars across political parties, guaranteeing citizenship to millions of Americans,” he added. “Trump’s demand for reinterpretation is radical and dangerous, and a continuation of his war on our most sacred civil rights.”
President Trump has recognized the “main object” of the Citizenship Clause was to serve freed slaves and their descendants “whose allegiance to the United States had generally been established through generations of parental domicile,” a March court filing read. But experts have argued any attack or revision to the 14th Amendment leaves the door wide open for interpretation and eventual discrimination, which we’ve already witnessed during the height of slavery in the U.S.
In the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1857, the Supreme Court declared Black people were not citizens of this country. It wasn’t until the Reconstruction Amendments (13th, 14th and 15th) that the 1857 ruling was buried. The 14th Amendment also created the building blocks for later civil rights efforts, notably the 1965 Voting Rights Act which Trump has also threatened, we told you.
Congress previously codified the 14th Amendment in 1940 with the passing of Nationality Act and again in 1952 with the Immigration and Nationality Act. Now, it’s on the conservative majority Supreme Court to decide if Trump’s interpretation of the amendment is legal according to the U.S. Constitution.
The Citizenship Clause hasn’t been touched for over 150 years. That is until the case of Trump v. Barbara— the pseudonym for a Honduran asylum applicant– sparked debates over who is considered an American and if citizenship is a right or just a privilege.
If the court rules in his favor, the decision will likely not be confined to immigration policy. If birthright citizenship becomes negotiable, then the definition of who is protected by the Constitution is also at risk. So as the country is waiting for the high court to weigh in, Black Americans are once again at risk of having their civil liberties stripped.
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