Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in the case Trump v. Barbara marks an “unfortunate moment” for the country.
During Tuesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Pappert reacted to the Court’s decision striking down President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to parents who are in the country unlawfully or temporarily.
“It’s an unfortunate moment, though, not exactly a shocking moment for the country,” he said.
Pappert said he believed the Trump administration failed to make what he viewed as the strongest constitutional argument during oral arguments before the Court.
“I would say it is not the most surprising. If folks will… think back to when the case was argued before the Supreme Court, the Trump administration’s attorney… did not seem up to the task. He was not making the argument that…this amendment was about slaves, making them into our fellow Americans as they always should’ve been,” Pappert argued.
“It never contemplated birth tourism. It never contemplated illegal alien invasions from the southern border because those things were inconceivable in 1860s America,” he added.
The Supreme Court’s majority opinion, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, held that the executive order conflicts with the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, concluding that children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present “are citizens at birth.”
Pappert predicted the decision would redirect efforts on immigration policy toward Congress and executive agencies rather than the courts.
“I think what is going to happen is you’re going to see a greater emphasis on Congress, you’re going to see a greater emphasis on the states. There may not be an opportunity, obviously, in the 21st century to easily pass a constitutional amendment, but I think that this is going to reinvigorate the president’s efforts to curtail both illegal immigration and… legal immigration,” Pappert said.
He also argued the ruling will keep immigration at the forefront of national politics.
“I think that getting a favorable decision on birthright citizenship probably would have taken some wind out of the immigration rights cause, and now this is going to essentially make this a defining issue as we head into the midterms and as we head into 2028. The immigration debate has just been enshrined into our national culture thanks to the Supreme Court,” he said.
Pappert suggested even with the Court’s ruling, the Trump administration could pursue policies aimed at preventing birth tourism.
“There needs to be… precautions in place to prevent birth tourism, where people predominantly from China, but also from other countries, will go to Guam or go to California or go to New York. They’ll stay there for about 72 hours, have a child because they were nine months pregnant upon their arrival, and then they head home,” Pappert said.
“If we cannot get this addressed through the courts, perhaps DHS, ICE, and CBP need to modify their procedures to keep these people from getting into the country in the first place,” he added.
Pappert also criticized Chief Justice John Roberts’ judicial record, comparing the birthright citizenship decision to the chief justice’s vote upholding the Affordable Care Act.
“This is the guy who saved Obamacare by determining it was a tax and not a tax simultaneously just to serve the left-wing progressives’ agenda. It should not be terribly surprising,” Pappert said.
He said Roberts’ legacy has been defined by high-profile decisions that disappoint conservatives.
“The John Roberts court will be remembered for one thing, and that is it’s a strategy. Giving conservatives a bunch of minor favorable decisions in rapid succession, making us think he really is a conservative justice… only to betray us on an issue like Obamacare or now birthright citizenship,” Pappert argued.
“It’s actually astounding that this has become his character, played out now over almost two entire decades, where he, when the going is tough, when the decision is critical, can be counted on reliably to not just make the wrong decision, but champion it and become its strongest proponent,” he added.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
