{"id":2622006,"date":"2026-07-01T08:08:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/roberts-the-sacred-bond-between-nation-and-citizen-requires-us-to-blow-it-up\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T08:12:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:12:28","slug":"roberts-the-sacred-bond-between-nation-and-citizen-requires-us-to-blow-it-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/roberts-the-sacred-bond-between-nation-and-citizen-requires-us-to-blow-it-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Roberts&#8217; Argument For Birthplace Citizenship Is Self-Defeating"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Froberts-the-sacred-bond-between-nation-and-citizen-requires-us-to-blow-it-up%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2622006&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In the recent Supreme Court case <em>Trump v. Barbara<\/em>, the discussion centered on the constitutional interpretation of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. Solicitor General John Sauer argued that, in a globalized world where millions can reach the U.S. within hours, the originalist intent behind the amendment is outdated, implying that its framers did not foresee such scenarios. However, Chief Justice Roberts dismissed this view, asserting that the Constitution remains the same regardless of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pop-superstars-new-demons-song-appears-to-backfire-turns-thousands-toward-god\/\" title=\"Pop star&#039;s latest song &#039;Demons&#039; backfires, leading thousands to turn to God.\">present-day circumstances<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Roberts&#8217; majority opinion, joined by Justices Barrett, sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson, held that any child born in the U.S., regardless of whether their mother is legally or illegally present, automatically gains American citizenship. He grounded this in an aspirational idea of allegiance, referencing feudal European concepts where subjects owed duty to their sovereign-an analogy he applies to the children of foreigners born on U.S. soil. Critics, including Justice Clarence Thomas, argue that this effectively rewards illegal immigration and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-releases-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-and-it-is-historic\/\" title=\"White House Releases List of President ...\u2019s Accomplishments \u2013  And It Is Historic!\">birth tourism<\/a>, undermining traditional notions of loyalty and nationhood.<\/p>\n<p>Roberts&#8217; reasoning is criticized for creating a one-sided obligation,offering full citizenship benefits without requiring immigrants or their children to demonstrate any genuine allegiance to the U.S. Many argue this approach incentivizes birth tourism and undermines the social and cultural bonds that historically define American citizenship. The decision emphasizes the material benefits of citizenship, such as passports and government aid, over the cultural and patriotic bonds traditionally associated with it. Critics contend that this dilute the concept of allegiance and erode the nation&#8217;s sovereignty, as Roberts&#8217; interpretation neglects the importance of shared heritage, language, and loyalty that once underpinned the idea of nationhood.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>During oral arguments in <em>Trump v. Barbara<\/em>, the birthplace citizenship case handed down from the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Solicitor General John Sauer observed that \u201cwe\u2019re in a new world now \u2026 where 8 billion people are one plane ride away from having a child who\u2019s a U.S. citizen.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Four justices would go on to agree with this originalist argument, that the framers of the 14th Amendment did not understand their words to confer citizenship on the offspring of illegal aliens and birth tourists. But Chief Justice John Roberts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/oral_arguments\/argument_transcripts\/2025\/25-365_l6gn.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dismissed<\/a> Sauer\u2019s point, retorting that while it may be \u201ca new world, it\u2019s the same Constitution.\u201d He clearly thought it was a clever turn of phrase, an impression no doubt bolstered by the fawning media <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/04\/01\/dear-justice-roberts-the-same-constitution-would-never-authorize-anchor-babies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">coverage<\/a> of his remark. Released on Tuesday, his majority opinion takes the same approach to a foundational constitutional question as his cheap potshot at Sauer: he shows little interest in compelling originalist arguments, instead issuing shallow and misapplied but noble-sounding platitudes. <\/p>\n<p>Joined by Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, Roberts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/25pdf\/25-365_4hdj.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declared<\/a> that, if a pregnant foreigner travels to the United States \u2014 legally or illegally, for 20 years or 20 minutes \u2014 to give birth, the 14th Amendment demands that act be rewarded by granting the child the full privileges of American citizenship. At the center of his argument is an aspirational concept of \u201callegiance\u201d he grounds in the practices of feudal Europe. Because British subjects \u201cborn within the dominions and under the protection of a particular sovereign\u201d owed a \u201ctie or duty\u201d to that sovereign, Roberts reasons, the children of foreigners born on American soil must be bound by the same allegiance and thus demanded citizenship.<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, Roberts\u2019 decision to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-go-to-war-against-joe-bidens-450k-payouts-to-border-crossers-civilizational-homicide\/\" title=\"Republicans Go to War Against Joe Biden&#039;s 0K Payouts to Border Crossers: &#039;Civilizational Homicide&#039;\">reward illegal immigration<\/a> and birth tourism is the surest way to destroy the bonds of allegiance he claims inform his opinion. He uses the term \u201callegiance\u201d 51 times, emphasizing the mutual duties that British sovereigns and subjects owed each other. But such an argument is irreconcilable with the practice he defends: allowing people with no practice or intention of \u201callegiance\u201d to the United States to secure citizenship for their children.  <\/p>\n<p>Access to an American passport, elections, and government benefits is a lucrative end, and there is an entire industry built on <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >shipping pregnant foreign nationals<\/a> to the U.S. to secure such material benefits for their children. The Center for Immigration Studies <a href=\"https:\/\/cis.org\/CIS\/Birth-Tourism-Facts-and-Recommendations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">estimated<\/a> in 2020 that 33,000 women on tourist visas gave birth to U.S. citizen babies every year, in addition to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant mothers. In the last six years, those numbers have doubtless increased exponentially. Many of these women have no intention of keeping those children in the U.S., but rather return to their home countries and raise their children with the cultural and political loyalties of their origin nations. Illegal aliens may raise their children in America, but those children often maintain allegiance to their home countries. Even the children of legal immigrants sometimes feel a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/02\/20\/eileen-gu-indicts-birthright-citizenship-and-our-entire-immigration-orthodoxy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stronger loyalty<\/a> to their parents\u2019 country of origin, as in the case of American-born Olympian Eileen Gu, who has received millions of dollars from the Chinese Communist Party to represent China. Certainly, many new arrivals no longer feel a social obligation to adopt the language, culture, and shared heritage of the country they demand to enjoy. <\/p>\n<p>Roberts doesn\u2019t actually believe in the supremacy of \u201cthe tie created by birth\u201d in England in 1688, because if he did, he would require immigrants to demonstrate it. His argument relies on a long Western tradition of mutual duty within a society, of sovereign nationhood and the sacred bonds that join its members. He rightly observes that such duty is \u201creciprocal.\u201d But while demanding the United States obligate herself to every foreigner who trespasses within her borders, he refuses to require anything of the trespassers. <\/p>\n<p>He explicitly rejects the suggestion that they must show even the basic allegiance demonstrated by being \u201cdomiciled\u201d in the United States, as several of his fellow justices argue. He pretends to agree with the Trump administration that \u201ccitizenship turns on allegiance,\u201d but proceeds to grant the former with no meaningful requirement of the latter. Refusing to acknowledge the reality of the \u201cnew world,\u201d he has also butchered the conventions of the Old World. <\/p>\n<p>The result of this one-sided obligation is giving citizenship to people like Montse Lewin, a self-described \u201cdigital creator\u201d whose family is from Mexico. \u201cWe do not move to America because we think it\u2019s a better country,\u201d she <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/02\/20\/eileen-gu-indicts-birthright-citizenship-and-our-entire-immigration-orthodoxy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">explained<\/a> to nearly 100,000 viewers on TikTok. \u201cYou\u2019re stupid to think that we move to this country for some hot dogs and some baseball. We have better vibes, music, food, culture, history, literally all of the above. We just move here because we are looking to make more money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Justice Clarence Thomas explains in his dissent, anyone with such foreign loyalties cannot supply the \u201callegiance\u201d Roberts pretends to value. \u201cForeign temporary visitors were attached to their home country [and] lacked similar bonds to this country,\u201d he writes. \u201cAmericans, consistent with their settler ethos, believed that citizens were the people who called a place home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A subject of the Chinese Communist Party who purchases a baby born to a surrogate mother in California and immediately ships the baby back to China has shown no allegiance to America, only an interest in exploiting her resources and generosity. Neither has a person who violates our immigration laws to financially enrich themselves or collect government handouts (which extend as far as taxpayer-funded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.city-journal.org\/article\/homeless-illegal-immigrants-sex-change-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">transgender surgeries<\/a> in Los Angeles). They and their dependents are not, in Thomas\u2019 words, \u201cpermanent members of the body politic\u2014the people whose roots were in a place, who called that place home, and who would, if necessary, go to war for that place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, Roberts demands they be treated that way, enjoying all of the benefits of citizenship with none of its obligations. He borrows the language of societies that understood that nationhood required a shared heritage, language, place, religion, and culture, and the sense of shared allegiance that followed naturally from it. In <em>Barbara<\/em>, Roberts strips away each of those tangible and intangible bonds that give the concept of \u201callegiance\u201d meaning, all while claiming the same concept compels him to do so. Using the language of sovereign nationhood, he strikes at the heart of our national sovereignty.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Elle Purnell is the assignment editor at The Federalist. She has appeared on Fox Business and Newsmax, and her work has been featured by RealClearPolitics, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Independent Women&#8217;s Forum. She received her B.A. in government with a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @_ellepurnell.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court debates birthright citizenship and allegiance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1353,"featured_media":2622007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/50861227481_9def4292f8_k.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[27919,7161,43482,3813,11006],"class_list":["post-2622006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-birthright","tag-citizenship","tag-constitutional-law","tag-immigration","tag-roberts"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/50861227481_9def4292f8_k.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1353"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2622006"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2622010,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622006\/revisions\/2622010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2622007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2622006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2622006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2622006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}