Justice Thomas (joined by Justice Gorsuch) slams birthright citizen decision, suggesting it is part of a long line of Supreme Court cases (most racist) abusing the Constitution and will not "stand the test of time":
"The Fourteenth Amendment was enacted in the wake of the Civil War, 'with the one pervading purpose' of securing equal citizenship for the freed slaves. Slaughter-House Cases, 16 Wall., at 71. It was enacted, as Justice Harlan wrote, 'to secure to a race recently emancipated' the 'civil rights' that other citizens enjoyed. Plessy, 163 U. S., at 555–556.
"This Court has time and again denied Americans that promise. Shortly after the Amendment was ratified, this Court deprived black citizens of the right to peaceably assemble and to keep and bear arms. See United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U. S. 542 (1876); see McDonald, 561 U. S., at 808–809 (THOMAS, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment). A little later, in Plessy, the Court upheld the subjugation of black citizens in the form of state-coerced racial segregation. 163 U. S. 537. When it had an opportunity to correct that profound error, it did so narrowly. See Brown v. Bd. of Ed., 347 U. S. 483, 494, and n. 11 (1954). It then used that very decision to justify busing American children to different schools based on their race. See Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Ed., 402 U. S. 1 (1971). Cite as: 609 U. S. ____ (2026) THOMAS, J., dissenting 91 And, until recently, this Court continued to selectively enforce our colorblind Constitution, including by allowing state-coerced racial discrimination in public education, e.g., Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U. S. 306 (2003), and compelling States to draw political districts on the basis of race, e.g., Allen v. Milligan, 599 U. S. 1 (2023).
"Meanwhile, the Court has repurposed the Fourteenth Amendment to protect its own set of preferred rights that the Reconstruction Congress never contemplated and that cannot find support in its text. Today, the Court does so again by recognizing a constitutional right to citizenship for the children of all foreign birth tourists and illegal aliens.
--
"I am not sure that today’s opinion will stand the test of time. The Citizenship Clause 'added greatly to the dignity and glory of American citizenship.' Plessy, 163 U. S., at 555 (Harlan, J., dissenting). Today’s opinion devalues that citizenship. I respectfully dissent. "