Following the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold birthright citizenship, Representative Greg Casar (D-TX) is warning that what may seem to be a positive outcome has unsettling undertones.
In one of several blows to the Trump administration, the court ruled 5-4 that the 14th Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship to anyone born in the United States, no matter their parents’ citizenship status. With this controversial decision, the court also struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order to change this.
Progressive Caucus Chairman and Rep. Casar, joined by other caucus leaders, spoke on the decision just hours after it was made public. Although the ruling was received as a victory by many Democrats, Rep. Casar said the close vote by which it passed is alarming.
“While we won the case today, we also got a grave warning about the future,” Rep. Casar said. “What should have been a simple, unanimous, open-and-shut decision was dangerously close.”
Rep. Casar criticized the justices who voted against the ruling: Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh.
“These four men are so blinded by partisanship and extremism that they act like they can’t see the words in the Constitution,” Rep. Casar said. “They can certainly read, but they are not following their oath to protect the Constitution and the rights of the people in this country.”
The 14th Amendment was enacted, Rep. Casar said, to prevent allowing people in power to “pick and choose who does and who does not have rights in this country.”
“And no president, no would-be king, gets to pick and choose who is and who is not American,” he said.
