by Mark M. Bello

I wrote yesterday morning that the United States Supreme Court was about to issue a ruling about “birthright citizenship.” I indicated that the 14th Amendment was quite clear on the issue and opined that the Supreme Court could not constitutionally rule against such citizenship. I was right.

Not to be denied in its never-ending battle to do Trump’s bidding, the High Court did the next worst thing. The football term for it is an end-around—The Supreme Court did an end-around the Constitution. In doing so, it enabled Donald Trump to deny the constitutional rights of a large class of citizens.

Shortly after I published my article, the United States Supreme Court limited the ability of district courts to issue universal injunctions. To some, this procedural ruling may sound plausible, benign, even correct. But as Justices Sotomayor and Jackson point out in their well-reasoned dissents, the Majority’s refusal to acknowledge the danger of ignoring the unconstitutionality of Trump’s subject executive order puts a loaded gun in the hands of a future autocrat. And make no mistake, Donald Trump is already loading the chamber.

With this decision, the Court opened the door for Trump to continue his assault on immigrants, and in this case, to target beneficiaries of his long-standing obsession: birthright citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment is crystal clear: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens…” That language, along with 150 years of legal precedent, affirms the full citizenship of anyone born on American soil.

So, what does this ruling do?

It prevents U.S. District Courts from issuing sweeping injunctions preventing Trump from doing unconstitutional or illegal things. In this case, his executive order denying birthright citizenship to certain classes of people has now been enabled. Except for the specific plaintiffs involved in the subject litigation, all other American-born children of undocumented immigrants must now fend for themselves. Trump’s unconstitutional executive orders are now insulated from any nationwide blockage. District courts will still be able to stop enforcement in their jurisdiction, but the policy will remain active elsewhere. In other words, the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection, will, at least for the foreseeable future, depend on what ZIP code you’re born in.

Trump’s justification for this is the same tired parade of garbage: “Gangs,” “murderers,” and “thieves” are “pouring over our borders.” Will branding newborns “non-citizens” stop organized crime? Will it prevent illegal border crossings? This is the red herring of red herrings. Trump’s rage against birthright citizenship is just one more racist, unconstitutional distraction embraced by a sycophant Supreme Court majority that no longer pretends to be impartial.

So, what can we do?

Fight back — not just in court, but in the court of public opinion and in the voting booth.

• Speak out. Talk about this ruling. Explain what it means — plainly and urgently — to friends, colleagues, strangers. Silence is complicity.
• Vote like democracy depends on it. Because it does. The Constitution is being slow-walked to the guillotine, and only a national reckoning at the ballot box can stop it.
• Support journalists, lawyers, and activists who are fighting to preserve the rule of law. The battle is not lost — not yet.

Today’s ruling doesn’t just threaten immigrants. It threatens all of us. If the constitutional definition of “citizen” can be ignored to punish southern border Latinos, it can be ignored to the detriment of anyracial, religious, or ethnic group. With the Stroke of a pen, a bigoted autocrat, with Supreme Court support, can obliterate your constitutional rights on a procedural technicality. This is about unbridled power, not policy.

How does that square with your version of America?