Birthright Citizenship at the Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court is set to hear arguments today on the constitutionality of President Trump’s attempts to end birthright citizenship. Check out these Opinion articles on the subject. Trump wants to find out just how weak this supreme court is. “The evidence in favor of the traditional view of the citizenship clause is overwhelming. To rule otherwise is to say, in essence, that two plus two equals five. Which is to say that if the Supreme Court decides in favor of Trump, it will have less to do with law or history than the political power of the president and his movement.” — Jamelle Bouie, an Opinion Columnist Trump might have a case in ending birthright citizenship. “Has a citizen of another country who violated the laws of this country to gain entry and unlawfully remain here pledged obedience to the laws in exchange for the protection and benefit of those laws?” — Randy E. Barnett, a professor of constitutional law at the Georgetown University Law Center, and Ilan Wurman, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Minnesota The guarantee of citizenship is the fundamental American promise. “I have sat at dining room tables of grandparents, parents, aunties and uncles who share their meals, traditions and rituals. With them are the stories of their journeys and gratitude to this country for the lives their children have forged as birthright citizens — and their many powerful contributions that serve our culture.” — Padma Lakshmi, the creator and host of “America’s Culinary Cup” and “Taste the Nation,” and the author of the cookbook and memoir “Padma’s All American.” Trump’s argument isn’t backed up by history. “To exclude children born here from citizenship because their parents are temporary or undocumented immigrants is to betray both the letter and the spirit of the 14th Amendment.” — Martha S. Jones, the author of “Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America,” and Kate Masur, the author of “Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, From the Revolution to Reconstruction.” Who stands to lose in the birthright citizenship case? “Unless and until our Constitution is amended, our government is simply not allowed to punish innocent babies guaranteed full and equal citizenship by the Constitution itself.” — Akhil Reed Amar, a professor of constitutional law at Yale Read now → Spotlight
“The fast rate at which this conflict has escalated and destabilized the world is the direct result of a president acting alone without a strategy and of a politically divided Congress that has abdicated its responsibilities and failed to play its vital constitutional role of oversight in war,” write Chuck Hagel and Leon E. Panetta, both former secretaries of defense. ICYMIIt’s time for a cognitive fitness revolution. “In an era when technologies relentlessly disrupt our lives, it can seem that this cognition crisis is a fait accompli — a side effect of innovations that cannot be stopped. But do we really have to accept this steady loss of our thinking ability as inevitable? In a short time, we transformed the way we thought about health. I’ve come to believe that a similarly rapid revolution is possible in how we respond to our diminishing ability to think.” — Cal Newport, a professor of computer science at Georgetown University and the author of “Deep Work” More in OpinionIn Your WordsRe “Michael Pollan’s Journey to the Borderlands of Consciousness”: When I see myself in photos, I’m amazed that old bald man is me because what I feel inside is much younger than that. I suppose this is the nature of consciousness, the ability to observe one’s self. Knowing that each one of us has this ability, it seems a higher form of consciousness would be empathy or love, the ability to transcend our own needs for someone else. — A comment posted by Tom J. from Berwyn, Ill. Read more comments on the story here and check out our Letters to the Editor. We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.
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