The Supreme Court's ruling today restricting the ability of lower courts to rein in the federal government is a dangerous power grab for Donald Trump and any future president who seeks to flout settled law. The decision, as my colleague Pema Levy writes, is a fundamental blow to the Constitution.
It can also be explained in the language of a nightmare fairy tale. Here's Pema:
Once upon a time, there was a president who wanted to be king. His Congress was acquiescent. The high court approved. But lower federal courts held firm to the rule of law. Time and again, they blocked the president from seizing power and violating the nation’s laws. So the president turned to the justices on the Supreme Court for a favor: Please stop these meddlesome little courts from getting in my way. And then one day in June, the Supreme Court granted his wish.
So, how does this affect birthright citizenship? While the high court did not make a ruling specifically about the constitutionally protected legal principle, by ruling on a procedural question, the court's conservative majority essentially ended it in states that have not challenged the Trump administration's order seeking to end birthright citizenship.
If this smacks of egregious inequality, a chaotic system that will deprive countless children of citizenship based on the state of their birth, that is the point. "Disaster looms," indeed.
—Inae Oh
