By Mary Alice Miller
The U.S. Supreme Court’s most high-profile decision, this term, upheld birthright citizenship. SCOTUS ruled that the Trump administration’s Executive Order to limit birthright citizenship is unconstitutional in Trump v. Barbara.
The Chairs of the Congressional Tri-Caucus – Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Chair Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) Chair Rep. Grace Meng (NY-06), and Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Chair Rep. Yvette Clarke (NY-09) – released the following joint statement:
“Today’s decision affirms a fundamental constitutional principle that has defined our nation for generations: every child born in the United States is a citizen of the United States.
“This promise was established by the Fourteenth Amendment, affirmed by the Supreme Court in the 1898 case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, and codified into federal law. While President Trump believes he is above the law, today’s ruling serves as a reminder that he cannot override the Constitution or deny people the rights it guarantees with a stroke of a pen. His effort to end birthright citizenship and redefine who gets to be an American has failed.”
The Supreme Court should not have taken the case in the first place.
A president cannot overturn an amendment to the Constitution. Presidents cannot use executive orders or any other unilateral action to change, bypass, or repeal any part of the Constitution.
According to the National Constitution Center, to overturn or repeal an existing constitutional amendment, an entirely new amendment must be created.
One of the most impactful decisions was the 6-3 ruling in Mullin v. Doe, which allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to proceed with terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian and Syrian nationals.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling, approximately 350,000 Haitian TPS holders and more than 1.3 million TPS holders and their family members face the risk of deportation.
“The Supreme Court’s decision allowing the Trump Administration to move forward with terminating Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants has created tremendous fear and uncertainty for hundreds of thousands of families across our country,” said Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, Chair, Congressional Black Caucus and co-chair of the House House Haiti Caucus.
“The Congressional Black Caucus has been clear in our opposition to the Administration’s efforts to terminate TPS. We believe these actions are not only deeply harmful but fundamentally inconsistent with our nation’s values. America should be a place that offers protection to those fleeing humanitarian crises—not one that turns its back on vulnerable families.”
Guerline Jozef, Executive Director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, said, “For hundreds of thousands of TPS holders, this is more than a legal battle—it is a fight to keep their families together. Many have lived in the United States for decades, are raising U.S.-citizen children, and have become indispensable members of our communities.”
In another immigration related case, SCOTUS ruled 6-3 in Blanche v. Lau that green card holders can be denied reentry into the United States if they have merely been accused of certain crimes. They don’t have to have been convicted.
Two separate transgender cases from West Virginia and Idaho were combined, with the Court siding with both states. One case was related to Title IX anti-discrimination protections, and the other centered on the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause.
The Title IX part of the case was decided 9-0, with all justices agreeing that Title IX allow for sex-segregated school sports, and allow states to define sex as biological sex. The Equal Protection decision does not require states to compare the physical and athletic abilities of anyone who wants to play school sports, because those states justify their laws based on safety of girls participating in school athletics and competitive fairness.
The decision does not require all states to ban trans-identified males (transwomen and girls) from female sports teams. Currently, approximately 20 states do not. In addition, different states and leagues have different standards. Also, the decision did not apply to trans-identified women and girls (transmen and girls) who want to participate in male sports.
That does not mean the distinctions will remain.
The 2023 affirmative action case related to colleges and universities, but has metastasized to anti-DEI across the government and federally funded agencies. Similarly, the transgender school sports decision may soon allow the federal government to require blue states like New York to comply. Of course, New York will fight the requirement and lose.
In the mail-in ballots case (Watson v. Republican National Committee), SCOTUS decided 5-4 that federal election law does not conflict with state laws that allow ballots postmarked by Election day to be counted after that date. The majority decision argued that the voter’s choice is made when they fill out their ballot before Election Day, not when the postal service delivers those ballots to election officials.
In a win for unitary executive theory, the High Court ruled that Trump has absolute control over the federal government, including the authority to fire agency officials at will. In the FTC case, President Trump and future presidents now have the power to fire agency commissioners, despite Congressional statute that requires bipartisan appointment of the five commissioners in which no more than three of the five commissioners can come from one political party.
This decision does not solely apply to the FTC. A few days after this decision, Trump fired the two remaining Democratic members of the independent Election Assistance Commission.
The Congressional Black Caucus issued a statement on Trump’s Election Commission firings ahead of Midterm Elections.
“Donald Trump and extremist Republicans have made clear they will stop at nothing to cement one-party rule in Washington. The Trump Administration has sought to restrict voter registration, limit access to mail voting, collect sensitive voter data, and continue relitigating the 2020 election despite Trump’s repeated false claims that he won,” said CBC Chair Yvette Clarke.
“Trump’s decision to remove multiple members of the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission ahead of the midterm elections is the latest example of where his administration’s priorities lie. Instead of lowering costs, strengthening the economy, or improving the lives of the American people, they continue to focus on undermining confidence in elections and changing the rules to benefit themselves.”
A perhaps temporary exception is the Trump administration’s firing of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Trump could have fired her without cause. Instead, he used a pretext of unproven mortgage fraud allegations. As a result, Cook sued over process, arguing that she can remain in her position while that court process plays out.