Rebuke for a racist rule

In a stinging 6-3 defeat for President Donald Trump, the US Supreme Court rubbished his executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, affirmed the clear language of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution - citizenship is guaranteed to almost every child born on American soil.

Trump's crusade against birthright citizenship was never about legal principle - no court agreed with his arguments and no reputable lawyers have supported his position. It was always about race. This is a man who launched his political career by pushing the racist lie that his predecessor, Barack Obama, was born in Kenya. He refers to developing countries with expletives. In court, his administration has attacked the loyalty of dual nationals, even though two of his three wives were foreign nationals when they married him, at least one of his children is known to have dual nationality, and three others are eligible to apply for it. However, those countries are both in Europe, so Trump wouldn't see a problem there.

Unfortunately, the ruling is unlikely to close the book on Trump's ludicrous campaign of xenophobic fearmongering, which has seen him paint immigrant families as thieves and invaders, stoking white grievance and using children as political pawns. Trump's predictably petulant response to the ruling was proof of this, as he called on Congress to pass a law stripping citizenship from the children of immigrants, even though this would likely require a new constitutional amendment, and passing one would take several years and bipartisan support - neither of which he has.

The Supreme Court - despite its recent pro-Trump partisan record - has defended the Constitution and the promise of America against a president who would trade 150 years of legal precedent for the politics of division and hate. It is a reminder for Americans that no matter what their president says, the law sees them as equal citizens, regardless of the colour of their skin or the nationality of their parents.