We have written previously of our disagreement with the conventional (or expansive) view that the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment automatically grants U.S. citizenship, without need for naturalization, to children born here of parents unlawfully in the country or here as visitors. See generally Samuel Estreicher & Rudra Reddy, Revisiting the Scope of Constitutional Birthright Citizenship, 24 Geo. J. L. & Pub. Pol’y (forthcoming Summer 2026). President Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship has it right as a constitutional matter. We also agree with the President than any change has to be prospective only and ground this claim on estoppel principles in view of the many years of State Department statements repeating the conventional view and also on implications of the Supreme Court’s 1976 decision in Afroyim v. Rusk, that citizenship once obtained cannot be relinquished involuntarily or impliedly. We write here only to address certain perceived anomalies noted by some the Justices during the oral argument in Trump v. Barbara in the hope that it will help the Court’s deliberations.
Click here to continue reading the full piece.