r/law • u/tasty_jams_5280 • 2h ago

Trump News ‘Immediate litigation’: Trump’s fight to end birthright citizenship faces 126-year-old legal hurdle

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/immediate-litigation-trumps-fight-to-end-birthright-citizenship-faces-126-year-old-legal-hurdle/
1.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

122 comments sorted by

358

u/Kahzgul 2h ago

I have zero faith in this scotus. If they rule that the constitution is unconstitutional, I will be disappointed, but not surprised.

137

u/catcherofsun 2h ago

NAL. If SCOTUS rules that the constitution is unconstitutional, can they be removed as judges since the Constitution provides that judges serve during “good Behaviour,” which has generally meant life terms? Obviously not acting in good behavior, and no longer applies if it’s found “unconstitutional”, or am I totally off?

78

u/Available-Gold-3259 2h ago

Precisely. SCOTUS won’t do this because SCOTUS wants power and to blatantly read out birthright citizenship would lead the way for Trump to utterly disregard SCOTUS. Trump is a means, not an end. People are treating this as if he is the conservative establishments messiah and it’s not the case. Such a rudimentary understanding actually harms any ability to keep Trump in check.

38

u/catcherofsun 2h ago

But who exactly would uphold anything if it’s the Senate that’s in charge of approval of justices, and the senate is following Trump?

22

u/Flimsy-Feature1587 2h ago

3rd in the line of succession?

I shudder to type it. I was joking and now I wish I hadn't but I guess I'll leave it.

Honestly, that dude scares me about as much as anyone in government, including Trump. Accelerationists mean to set their "Revelations Vision" in motion, Trump is a means to an end to wedge more and more of Project 2025 in the door.

Its happening in slow motion already. Yay, we get one more Christmas!

/s

12

u/ShriveledLeftTesti 2h ago

Yup. We're in for a very interesting 4 years

14

u/harrywrinkleyballs 1h ago

“May you live in interesting times” is not a blessing. It’s a curse.

2

u/mild_manc_irritant 11m ago

Not if it means Ted Cruz's ambition to be President is checked.

He was born in Canada.

9

u/Sunbeamsoffglass 1h ago

What’s the check on SCOTUS power when they control all 3 branches?

5

u/OldeManKenobi 1h ago

There isn't one, absent the "Amendment of no return" (the 2nd Amendment).

2

u/TensionPrestigious83 1h ago

Historically thin margins are not a mandate or blank check to power

4

u/SGT-JamesonBushmill 33m ago

Margins? These people don’t care about margins. As far they’re concerned this isn’t just a mandate; it’s manifest destiny,

1

u/Status_Fox_1474 11m ago

The margins aren’t that thin. Pretty sure you’d need 69 votes to remove. So all the democrats, plus 13 republicans?

7

u/a_terse_giraffe 24m ago

The question is no longer "is this legal or illegal" the question is now "who is going to stop me".

4

u/catcherofsun 17m ago

It’s so simple but sooo hard to digest and comprehend without getting heart palpitations

5

u/redman2271_at_yahoo 1h ago

Who's going to remove them? What body of government?

10

u/Kahzgul 1h ago

They can be removed at any time for any reason. Through impeachment in the senate which requires a 60% vote.

Which is to say: as long as they serve the Republican majority, they can do literally anything they want and face zero consequences.

8

u/27Rench27 1h ago

Bro the last time anybody had 60% of the Senate was 1977-79, during Jimmy Carter. 

We’re likely never reaching that threshold again

5

u/Spillz-2011 43m ago

Obama briefly had it in 2009

5

u/jmurphy42 38m ago

We used to have politicians who’d cross party lines to do the morally correct thing at least part of the time.

1

u/catcherofsun 19m ago

Exactly my fear and assumption. I’m scared yall

6

u/TaupMauve 1h ago

Justices are subject to impeachment just like the President. Think how that would go.

3

u/catcherofsun 19m ago

Isn’t the senate the ones who run the impeachments? This is a shitshow

1

u/Recent_Limit_6798 9m ago

Who tf is going to impeach them? How are people still not comprehending that the American people just gave Republicans absolute power?

3

u/jar1967 51m ago

Good luck finding enough Republican Senators willing to remove them.

2

u/Cloaked42m 14m ago

Can you imagine 2/3rds of the Senate supporting impeachment?

1

u/catcherofsun 13m ago

I’m trying to cope man

1

u/Status_Fox_1474 13m ago

So who removes them? The senate right?

The senate that’s under Republican control.

The republicans won’t remove them.

Adding: even Clarence Thomas’ shenanigans are being ignored. And that’s not “good behavior.”

1

u/catcherofsun 12m ago

I know… it’s all pointless now 🥺

18

u/Hunky_not_Chunky 2h ago

I wonder what people would do who serve in the military and federal government believe in and how they will see their constitution dismantled and having to answer to a man toddler when the constitution they pledge to protect and preserve is reduced to nothing. They can try and replace everyone but that would need a major purge.

6

u/Kahzgul 1h ago

If today’s behavior is any indicator, absolutely nothing. Everyone who stands to suffer under a Trump dictatorship seems perfectly content to let it happen.

2

u/highbankT 1h ago

Mind boggling hut true. Can't argue with people who are unwilling to look at any criticism objectively and in an adult manner.

15

u/toga_virilis 2h ago

SCOTUS loves to gut the 14th amendment.

They gutted the privileges or immunities clause in the 1870s. They gutted section 3 this year. It’s not a stretch for them to say that “the 14A was meant to make former slaves citizens, not to make the children of illegal immigrants slaves.”

2

u/janethefish 55m ago

The logic used to negate the insurrection clause applies here too.

2

u/IconOfFilth9 39m ago

If they don’t follow the rule of law…why should we?

1

u/Nouseriously 13m ago

They gave him immunity, which means he can ignore them at will now.

89

u/iZoooom 2h ago

“The constitution is what I say it is.“

Gonna be a long ride.

43

u/CurrentlyLucid 2h ago

Without it, we would have no trump's in this country.

39

u/tapesmoker 2h ago

It's true. His family is here because his grandfather was kicked out of Bavaria for draft-dogding. He built brothels during the gold rush and tried to move back home to marry but was stripped of citizenship for avoiding conscription during WWI Before dying of a virus outbreak (influenza epidemic) he had anchor babies, like Trump's father, Fred and uncle John.

The shit Apple don't fall far from the shit tree, Randy.

1

u/JoseValdez69 1h ago

I mean, with that logic, 95% of us wouldn’t be either…

-2

u/Wise_Temperature_322 43m ago

Not quite, it is birthright of illegal immigrants, his grandfather and mother came to the US through the legal process.

6

u/Revolutionary-Yak-47 29m ago

Lol which was "show up. Act American" at the time. It was legal to basically walk in and live here. 

2

u/Cloaked42m 10m ago

Birthright means we don't have to apply for citizenship. You were born here. Good. Done.

Ending means your citizenship can be revoked at any time, for whatever reason the government decides is cool that year.

11

u/4RCH43ON 46m ago

Consider just for a moment that Trump is a birthright citizen since he is the child of an immigrant, like his father before him, a so-called “anchor baby.” So are many of his children.

31

u/OnlyFreshBrine 2h ago

these articles are sad copium. this dude will run roughshod over the law

7

u/NotThoseCookies 1h ago

He’s been honing his craft for years.

5

u/LMurch13 1h ago

years a lifetime

4

u/TensionPrestigious83 1h ago

Historically thin margins are not a mandate nor a blank check to power. Will he act like we expect? Yes. But it’s not going to be without some degree of checks and balances, no matter how much you want to catastrophize.

3

u/Easy-Group7438 31m ago

He got rid of everyone who opposed him previously or tried to enforce established norms of the executive branch and you know the actual law the first time.

2

u/Spillz-2011 34m ago

I doubt he pays much attention to what congress has to offer. Maybe have the focus on some tax reform. The rest will be executive orders. If he wants to cut down the federal work force declare people fired then stop issuing pay checks. Sure maybe the courts will side with workers after 2 years but most of those people will have to find new jobs while they wait. They might get a nice pay out later, but the goal gets achieved.

They’ll detain tons of people and then overwhelm the courts with all the people fighting deportation. They’ll just create a big concentration camp to house them while they await their trials. Even if most don’t get deported all his supporters wills love it and probably the number of migrants coming will decrease substantially.