California immigrant families could breathe a sigh of relief Tuesday, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to end the constitutionally guaranteed right of birthright citizenship.
On the first day of Trump’s second term, the president issued an executive order declaring that a person born in the U.S. was not a citizen if their parents were neither citizens nor lawful permanent residents at the time of the person’s birth. More than a dozen states, including California, sued to stop the order. They argued that it violated the 14th Amendment, a measure adopted after the Civil War that provided civil rights to formerly enslaved people.
In a 6-3 ruling, the high court rejected Trump’s order, saying that it took “the addition of names such as Antietam, Gettysburg, and Chancellorsville to our national canon,” for the country to fulfill a vision of “our common humanity,” brought forward by Civil War abolitionists.
- Chief Justice John Roberts, in his majority opinion: “Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ … We keep that promise today.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta praised the ruling, saying “the Constitution, not any president, governs this country.”
- Bonta: “This decision is about children born in this country who are entitled to the same dignity, the same protections and the same opportunities as every other American child.”
Hours after the Supreme Court handed down its decision, Trump urged Congress to end birthright citizenship, saying such legislation would have his “complete and total support.”
Meanwhile, a pair of Supreme Court rulings last week related to immigration went Trump’s way, empowering the federal government to strip away temporary protected statuses for Haitian and Syrian citizens residing in the U.S., and to turn away asylum seekers at the border.
All three cases underscore Trump’s efforts to restrict legal channels of immigration and citizenship — an endeavor Bonta says will likely not end with the latest ruling.
“Will he try to de-naturalize citizens? Yes, I don’t think he’ll stop,” said Bonta. “That’s what he’s threatened to do and he wants to do that.”
In other court news: The Supreme Court also ruled Tuesday that states can — but are not required to — ban transgender student athletes from playing on girls’ and women’s sports teams. Though LGBTQ advocates slammed the decision, the ruling enables California and 22 other states to keep allowing transgender students to play on teams that align with their gender identity. Read more from CalMatters’ Carolyn Jones.
Focus on Inland Empire: Each Wednesday, CalMatters Inland Empire reporter Aidan McGloin surveys the big stories from that part of California. Read his newsletter and sign up here to receive it.
Other Stories You Should Know
Help us test a data privacy law
A California law requires businesses to make it easy for us to protect our privacy by compelling companies to delete our data. In fact, the so-called DROP Act is supposed to work with just one click that would direct hundreds of data brokers to delete your digital footprint.
Brokers are required to start processing requests in August, but companies don’t always make it easy for users to scrub their own info. If you want to help CalMatters and The Markup keep track of whether data companies are complying, we have a guide that walks you through how to submit a DROP request. Afterwards, you can share to us some information, and we’ll send you a followup about next steps.
Sticking up for open government
After intense opposition, a state lawmaker is once again scaling back a proposal that would put up new barriers for Californians seeking government records.
As CalMatters’ Kate Wolffe explains, in March Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco introduced a bill that would make it more expensive for some people to obtain public records. Transparency advocates strongly opposed the proposal, so to get the bill out of the Assembly, the Downey Democrat watered it down to one that would merely give agencies more time to respond to requests.
But Pacheco later reinserted the high fees for requesting records, and added new ways counties could deny requests. Outcry from advocates and a string of bad press followed, prompting Pacheco to back down.
In its latest iteration, the bill would give agencies up to 10 business days to respond to a request, rather than the current 10 calendar days, and requests could be extended by no more than 14 business days.
And lastly: The toll of taking transit to college
For many Los Angeles college students, public transit is often the cheapest and sometimes the only way to get to campus. But traveling by bus or train comes with its own hidden costs. Martin Romero of CalMatters’ College Journalism Network rode along with a handful of students during their daily commutes to examine the time, safety risks and energy it requires for students to access college by transit. Read more.
California Voices
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: With 14 statewide measures slated to appear before voters in November, Californians have increasingly looked to the ballot measure process to resolve big issues — but there could have been as many as 20 measures if compromises weren’t made.
The Garden Grove chemical emergency underscores how California communities are vulnerable to risks tied to the plastics supply chain, including exposure to harmful chemicals, microplastics and plastic waste, writes Veronica Herrera, professor of urban planning at UCLA.
Other things worth your time:
Who’s losing work to AI: A new report shows “highly educated” CA workers are most at risk of AI-related layoffs. // SFGATE
Cow power: Could manure be a viable energy source for data centers? // Grist
Back to the office: CA state workers are heading back to the office at least four days a week beginning today. // Abridged
A homeless childhood: How homeless parents in Southern CA try to protect their kids. // LAist
Save the beach: The feds will help Oceanside protect its beach decades after damaging it for Camp Pendleton. // Voice of San Diego
Big win for salmon: They’re coming back after dam removals on the Klamath River. // San Francisco Chronicle
Big spendiers: Newly minted millionaires from the SpaceX IPO are rushing to buy luxury homes in Southern CA // Los Angeles Times
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