#8 The 14th Amendment Argument Over Birthright Citizenship
Let's go back to 1857.
The Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision called Dred Scott. Dred Scott was a Black man who had lived in free states and sued for his freedom. The court ruled that Black Americans — free or enslaved — could never be citizens of the United States. Not then. Not ever. That decision told every Black person in America that the Constitution did not apply to them.
That ruling helped start a war.
Four years of Americans killing each other. 620,000 dead. When it was over Congress made a decision. They were never going to let something like Dred Scott happen again. So in 1868 they passed the 14th Amendment. The first sentence is the one that matters today.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States.
That single line is the center of the entire debate. Republicans argue the 14th Amendment was written specifically for freed slaves and the Chinese immigrants of 1868 — not for anyone who crosses a border illegally today. Democrats argue the language says all persons born on American soil, full stop, no exceptions beyond the two the Supreme Court already carved out. Nine justices are going to decide which interpretation is correct. Whether that line means what it meant in 1868 or whether it means something broader today — that is the question this court has to answer.
That sentence was written for one reason. To fix what Dred Scott broke. To make sure no future court and no future Congress could look at a person born on American soil and tell them they had no rights here.
Thirty years pass.
1898. A man named Wong Kim Ark was born in San Francisco to Chinese parents. His parents were not diplomats. They were not soldiers. They lived in San Francisco, worked in San Francisco, and their son was born there. At 21 he took a trip to China to visit family. When he tried to come back the United States government told him he was not a citizen. His parents were Chinese nationals. Therefore so was he.
Wong Kim Ark sued the federal government.
The Supreme Court ruled 6 to 2 in his favor. Born on American soil to parents who were not diplomats and were not enemy combatants — you are a citizen. The court carved out exactly two exceptions. Children of foreign diplomats. Children born during hostile military occupation of US territory. That is it. Two exceptions in 128 years.
That ruling has been the law of the land ever since.
Now here is something most people do not know. The United States and Canada are the only two developed nations on earth that still have unrestricted birthright citizenship. Every major European country ended it. No European country has offered unconditional birthright citizenship since 2004. Ireland ended it that year by public referendum after pregnant women were specifically traveling there to give birth so their children could claim Irish citizenship. The Irish people voted to stop it.
The rest of the developed world requires at least one parent to be a citizen or permanent resident before a child born on their soil gets automatic citizenship. The United States has never made that change. Until now someone is trying.
On his first day back in office Donald Trump signed an executive order. Children born in the United States to parents who are here illegally or on temporary visas will no longer receive automatic citizenship. Every court that has looked at that order has blocked it. Federal judges from New Hampshire to California to Massachusetts all ruled the same way — this order likely violates the 14th Amendment.
April 2, 2026. It went to the Supreme Court.
Here is the actual legal argument. Not the political one. The legal one.
The four words at the center of this are — subject to the jurisdiction thereof. Trump's lawyers argue that people here illegally or on a temporary visa are not fully subject to US jurisdiction the way permanent residents are. They point directly at Wong Kim Ark and note that his parents had permanent residence in the United States. Not a tourist visa. Not illegal entry. They lived there permanently. The administration argues that distinction matters and that the 1898 ruling did not specifically address children of people who entered illegally.
The other side says if you are standing on American soil you are subject to American law. Period. You can be arrested here. Prosecuted here. Deported under American law. That makes you subject to US jurisdiction. Their children qualify.
A law professor at the University of Minnesota said the Wong Kim Ark ruling strictly speaking focused on parents with legal permanent domicile and that there is legitimate legal argument on both sides of this specific question. That is not a fringe opinion. That is a credentialed legal scholar saying this is not as settled as the left wants you to believe.
Now here are the numbers.
250,000 babies a year are born in the United States to parents here illegally or on temporary visas. That is what this ruling directly affects. 70,000 of those are born to people who came here on tourist visas specifically to give birth. There are businesses — actual businesses — that charge tens of thousands of dollars coaching foreign nationals on how to hide their pregnancies from customs officials so they can get their child American citizenship. That is not a conspiracy theory. Federal authorities have prosecuted these operations.
Here is the number nobody on the left wants to talk about. The Migration Policy Institute — which supports immigration — ran the projections on what happens if birthright citizenship ends. Their own numbers show the unauthorized population in the United States grows by 2.7 million by 2045 and 5.4 million by 2075. Because the children born here without citizenship become unauthorized themselves. So the argument that ending birthright citizenship reduces the illegal population may actually produce the opposite result.
That is a fact worth knowing before you take a hard position either way.
What happens to a child born here if the order stands? They are not American citizens. They carry the citizenship of their parents' home country. A country they have never lived in. They would be born here, grow up here, go to school here, and have no legal status here. That is not a small thing.
Here is where things stand.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on April 2, 2026. The three liberal justices have already made clear they will vote to strike the order down. Of the six conservatives, Justice Samuel Alito made the sharpest legal argument using what he called the microwave analogy — borrowed from the late Justice Antonin Scalia. A theft statute written before microwaves existed still covers stealing a microwave. General rules apply to new circumstances. Alito's point was that the framers of the 14th Amendment could not have anticipated illegal immigration because illegal immigration barely existed in 1868. The amendment was written to protect freed slaves. The question is whether its language extends to every person born here regardless of how their parents arrived.
Most justices signaled skepticism of Trump's position. Alito and Thomas appeared to be where the strongest legal argument for the administration lives. The court will not rule today. The decision comes in late June or early July.
One final note. President Trump attended those oral arguments in person on April 2, 2026 — making him the first sitting president in American history to attend Supreme Court oral arguments. He left after his Solicitor General finished arguing and before opposing counsel began. The decision comes in late June or early July. We will be watching.
February 28, 2026.
That is the day Operation Epic Fury began. United States and Israeli forces launched simultaneous strikes on Iran. The first targets were command and control. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in the opening hours. Senior military commanders. Government officials. Gone on day one.
Since that morning the United States military has hit more than 13,000 targets inside Iran. The Iranian Air Force no longer exists. The Iranian Navy is at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Iran's ballistic missile launches are down 86 percent from day one. Drone attacks down 73 percent. Israel says 70 percent of Iran's steel production capacity has been destroyed. Fifty senior Iranian leaders were killed in a single coordinated US-Israeli strike on Tehran during week six. Iran's nuclear program — the entire reason this war started — is gone.
Thirteen American service members have been killed. More than 360 wounded. That number has to be said out loud every time. These are real people who left home and did not come back.
On April 3, 2026, Day 35 of the war, Iran shot down a US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle over southwestern Iran. It was the first American manned aircraft lost to enemy fire in over 20 years. Two crew members were aboard — a pilot and a weapons systems officer, both ejected.
The pilot was rescued within hours by US Special Forces. The weapons systems officer — a Colonel — was not found immediately.
What happened next is worth understanding in detail.
The Colonel used his SERE training — Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape — exactly as he had been taught. Seriously wounded after ejecting, he climbed to a ridgeline 7,000 feet above sea level in the mountains of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province. He hid in a mountain crevice. He had a pistol, a communication device, and a tracking beacon. He activated the beacon and held on.
For more than 24 hours Iranian military forces and civilians combed those mountains looking for him. Iranian state television aired bounty announcements in real time — 60,000 dollars for anyone who turned him over alive. Iranian Basij militia sent into the mountains to find him were later discovered dead. American forces had engaged them.
While the Colonel was evading capture the CIA was running a deception campaign inside Iran. US intelligence spread word that American forces had already located the Colonel and were moving him on the ground for exfiltration — confusing Iranian search teams about where to look and where to set up intercepts. That deception bought time.
The rescue operation involved hundreds of special forces personnel. Dozens of aircraft. The US set up a forward arming and refueling base deep inside Iranian territory near Isfahan — one of Iran's most strategically sensitive cities, home to missile bases, nuclear facilities, and the airbase that houses Iran's F-14 fleet. American commandos flew in, refueled on Iranian soil, and went to get him.
They found him. There was a firefight. US forces fired weapons to keep Iranian personnel away from the extraction site. The mission dragged from night into daylight — making it more dangerous. Two MC-130J Commando II transport aircraft malfunctioned and got stuck on the ground. Rather than leave them for Iran to capture, American forces destroyed their own aircraft before getting out. A Little Bird helicopter was also destroyed at the forward base.
Seven hours over Iran in broad daylight. No Americans killed. The Colonel sustained injuries. He will recover.
President Trump announced the rescue after midnight on April 5, 2026. His exact words were: WE GOT HIM.
Here is how Iran brought down the F-15E — because this matters for everything that comes next.
Iran used passive infrared detection. Not radar. Infrared targeting detects heat signatures — the thermal output of a jet engine. It emits no signal of its own. It cannot be detected by American radar warning receivers. It cannot be jammed by American electronic warfare systems. The United States has spent decades and trillions of dollars building air superiority around defeating radar-guided threats. Iran went around all of it using heat.
B-52 bombers had been flying overland missions over Iran the week before the shootdown — a public demonstration that US forces had established air dominance. That was true in terms of radar-guided air defenses. Iran had other systems still operational. The F-15 loss does not reverse the air campaign. It does mean the threat environment is more complex than had been stated publicly.
Now here is where the war stands as of this recording.
The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed. Before this war started approximately 130 ships a day transited that waterway. Traffic is down 94 percent from peacetime. Brent crude is sitting at approximately 109 dollars a barrel — up more than 50 percent since February 28. The economic impact is global. Pakistan raised fuel prices 55 percent in less than a month. India lost half its Middle East oil imports. Italy pushed the EU to suspend budget deficit rules because of energy costs. Japan, South Korea and every Asian economy dependent on Gulf oil is in emergency mode.
Iran tried to reframe the Strait situation as leverage. Their proposal — a toll road system requiring ships to obtain permits and licenses to transit. The EU's foreign policy chief said plainly that international law does not recognize pay-to-pass schemes. The UN Security Council attempted to vote on a resolution protecting commercial shipping. China vetoed it.
Iran's former foreign minister Zarif published a peace proposal in Foreign Affairs magazine — limits on the nuclear program in exchange for lifting all sanctions. Trump's position is zero nuclear capability. Not limited. Not monitored. Zero. That proposal was not a serious offer. It was an attempt to split international opinion.
Trump set a deadline. April 6 at 8 PM Eastern. Open the Strait and make a deal or face destruction of every power plant in Iran simultaneously.
In the days before the deadline Iran sent negotiators through Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Oman. Trump granted amnesty to the Iranian negotiators so they could keep talking without fear of being targeted. He told Fox News on April 5 that he thinks there is a good chance of a deal by April 6. He said the Iranian side is negotiating right now.
A 45-day ceasefire framework was reported by Axios on April 5, citing four US, Israeli and regional sources. Two phases — a ceasefire first while permanent terms are negotiated, then a final end to the war. The ceasefire could be extended if more time is needed.
Whether that framework holds will be determined by the time this episode reaches you. What is certain is this: Iran is negotiating from a position of total military defeat. Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their nuclear program is gone. Fifty senior leaders were killed in a single night. Their supreme leader is dead. The people Trump is dealing with are not the people who ran Iran on February 27.
The Iranian parliament speaker publicly responded to Trump's 48-hour ultimatum with two words. Bring it on.
The Iranian foreign minister said the same week that his country's position was being misrepresented and that Iran never refused to meet in Islamabad.
Judge what they do, not what they say.
Here is the broader picture beyond Iran's borders.
Gulf states have absorbed nearly 500 Iranian ballistic missiles since February 28. Kuwait's desalination plant was hit. The UAE's largest gas processing facility was damaged and could take up to a year to resume full production. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar have all been targeted. Twenty thousand seafarers were stranded in the Persian Gulf. Qatar's LNG output was cut 17 percent after an Iranian strike and could remain reduced for up to five years.
Russia provided satellite imagery and drone targeting technology to Iran to help target American forces. Ukraine — which has spent two years fighting Russian drones — sent more than 200 counter-drone specialists to Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. Ukraine also established covert drone bases in Libya and used them to strike Russian shadow fleet tankers in the Mediterranean, killing a senior Russian intelligence officer aboard one vessel. Ukraine is fighting on three continents simultaneously.
This war is not contained to Iran. It never was.
1948.
The United States was the first country on earth to recognize the state of Israel. Not the second. Not after we saw how things shook out. First. Eleven minutes after Israel declared independence President Truman signed the recognition. That is where this relationship starts.
In the nearly eight decades since that moment the United States has stood behind Israel in ways that go far beyond diplomatic support. The numbers are not small.
Since 1948 the United States has given Israel more than 300 billion dollars in inflation-adjusted aid. That makes Israel the single largest recipient of American foreign aid since World War II. Not for a year or two. Every year. Consistently. For nearly eight decades. The current agreement — signed in 2016 — commits the United States to 3.8 billion dollars per year through 2028. That is 3.8 billion every single year regardless of what is happening in the world, regardless of what Israel does or does not do, regardless of whether Congress is fighting about the budget.
Since October 7, 2023 alone the United States delivered an additional 16.3 billion dollars in direct military aid on top of the annual commitment. That money was delivered on 800 transport planes and 140 ships carrying 90,000 tons of weapons and equipment. Bombs. Rockets. Tank ammunition. Small arms. Missile defense systems.
The United States built two War Reserve Stock facilities inside Israel to pre-position American military equipment on Israeli soil. Equipment that can be transferred to Israeli forces if needed. We store our weapons in their country for them to use.
Israel has been designated a Major Non-NATO ally since 1989. That designation gives Israel access to expanded American weapons systems and the ability to bid on US defense contracts that most countries cannot touch. Israel gets first access to America's most advanced military technology before any other country in the region. They were the first nation in the Middle East to receive the F-35 stealth fighter. They have 50 of them.
At the United Nations Security Council the United States has cast its veto 42 times specifically to shield Israel from international condemnation. Between 1991 and 2011 alone — 15 of 24 American vetoes at the Security Council were used to protect Israel. Every time the international community tried to formally condemn Israel for anything, the United States stepped in front of it.
In 1973 Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel during Yom Kippur. Israel was getting hit hard and running out of ammunition. The United States launched an emergency airlift — Operation Nickel Grass — flying weapons directly to Israel to keep them in the fight. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said afterward that if Israel had struck first instead of absorbing the initial attack they would not have received so much as a nail from the United States. Israel trusted America to come through. America came through.
In 1985 the Israeli economy was collapsing. The United States stepped in with a 1.5 billion dollar rescue package — the largest economic aid package to any single country since the Vietnam war. That same year Congress converted all military aid to Israel from loans to outright grants. Meaning Israel never had to pay it back. Every dollar of military assistance since 1985 has been a gift.
American annual military aid to Israel represents about 16 percent of Israel's entire military budget. Without American money Israel's defense spending would have to drop by nearly one fifth or be funded some other way.
That is the relationship. That is what has been built since 1948. Money. Weapons. Vetoes. Technology. Pre-positioned equipment on their soil. Emergency airlifts when they needed them. Economic rescues when they were drowning. A security guarantee backed by the most powerful military on earth.
And then came October 7, 2023.
Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis in a single morning. The deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust. The United States responded immediately. A surge of military assistance. Ammunition. Iron Dome interceptors. The US leased Israel its own Iron Dome batteries. Congress passed supplemental funding. Another 8.7 billion dollars. Then more. The total since October 7 alone is 16.3 billion dollars. The weapons kept coming. The diplomatic cover kept coming. America's support for Israel through the Gaza campaign cost the United States significant standing in the Muslim world, significant standing with younger voters domestically, and significant strain with European allies.
America paid that cost without hesitation.
Here is the question that ends this segment.
After 78 years. After 300 billion dollars. After 42 vetoes. After emergency airlifts and economic rescues and pre-positioned weapons and F-35s and 16 billion since October 7.
What does Israel owe America?
Operation Epic Fury began February 28, 2026.
Israel was there from the first strike. Israeli Air Force jets flying alongside American bombers. Joint targeting. Shared intelligence. Israel killed Khamenei in the opening hours. They killed the head of the IRGC Navy. They killed Ali Larijani — one of Iran's most powerful officials — in a March 17 airstrike. They struck the heavy water plant at Arak — Iran's plutonium production site. They hit two of Iran's largest steel factories. They destroyed or disabled roughly 60 percent of Iran's missile launchers. Of approximately 470 launchers Iran had at the start of this war fewer than 180 remain operational.
Israel's military spokesman went on camera and said Israel would finish hitting the critical components of Iran's military industries in a matter of days. And he said it will take Iran a long time to rebuild them.
Israel has been aggressive. Israel has been effective. Israel got what it came for.
Iran's nuclear program is gone. Iran's air force is gone. Their navy is at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. The regime that spent 40 years calling for Israel's destruction has been decapitated. The missile infrastructure that threatened to overwhelm Israeli air defenses has been cut in half. The IRGC commanders who planned and executed attacks on Israel for decades are dead.
From Israel's perspective this war has been a success.
Now here is the moment.
American and Israeli forces have been conducting air operations together for over a month. Thirteen Americans are dead. Thousands more are in the region. The USS Tripoli arrived with 2,500 Marines. The 82nd Airborne has been ordered to the region. The Pentagon has options on the table for ground operations including seizing Kharg Island. Trump floated it publicly. The buildup of ground troops trained to seize and hold territory is real and visible to everyone watching.
Israeli media reported that if the United States conducts a ground operation in Iran, Israel will not be sending ground troops.
Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon confirmed publicly that Israel is not part of US-Iran negotiations and that Israeli military operations will continue on their own track until Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities are eliminated.
A retired Israeli Brigadier General said plainly — I do not believe it is in Israel's interest to see any ground operations.
An Israeli security expert was even more direct. He said — as always, the United States will defend Israel's interests using its own military.
As always.
That phrase deserves a moment.
Israel is already fighting on five fronts. Three ground operations — Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank. Two aerial fronts — Iran and Yemen. They are stretched. Their public is war-weary. Six Israeli soldiers have been killed in Lebanon. Iranian missiles have killed 19 Israelis. The country has been under sustained attack for over a month. The argument from Israeli military officials is that they lack the capacity, troops and equipment to also deploy a ground force into Iran.
Those are real constraints. Those are legitimate military realities.
But here is what is also real.
NPR reported that Israeli officials privately want several more weeks of war in Iran before any ceasefire. Netanyahu ordered his military to accelerate targeting of Iran's arms factories — to hit as much as possible before a deal gets made. Israel is racing to extract maximum military value from this conflict before the window closes. They want the benefits of the continued air campaign. They are not prepared to share the risk of what comes next.
The United States has 50,000 troops in the Middle East right now. Thirteen are dead. More are in harm's way every day. The country that this war benefits most — the country that has spent 40 years warning the world about the Iranian nuclear threat — the country that received 300 billion dollars in American support over 78 years — that country is telling us the ground war is our problem.
This is not a criticism of the Israeli people. This is not a criticism of Israel's right to defend itself. Israel has fought hard and fought effectively in this campaign.
This is a question about what an alliance actually means.
An alliance is not a one-way transaction. It is not America writing checks and America spending blood and America absorbing the political cost while our partners take what they need and step back when the bill gets heavy. That is not an alliance. That is a protection racket where only one side pays.
The United States vetoed resolutions for Israel 42 times. Flew emergency weapons to Israel in 1973. Rescued their economy in 1985. Delivered 16 billion dollars in weapons since October 2023. Sent 13 Americans to their graves in a war that removes the primary existential threat to Israel's existence.
When the boots hit the ground — if they hit the ground — Israel will be watching from the air.
That is the answer.
Three stories tonight. One about a constitutional question that goes back to 1868. One about a war that has changed the Middle East in 37 days. And one about what it means to be an ally when the cost gets real.
On the birthright citizenship question — this is not settled law the way the left wants you to believe it is. There is a legitimate legal argument at the center of this and nine justices are going to answer it this summer. Whatever you think the answer should be — watch the decision. Read it. Form your own opinion from the actual ruling, not from what a cable news anchor tells you it means.
On the Iran war — two American pilots came home from inside enemy territory because hundreds of Americans went in to get them. That story deserves to be told and told properly. This country does not leave its people behind. That is not a political statement. That is a fact backed up by seven hours over Iran in broad daylight.
On the Israel question — I want to be clear. Israel has the right to exist and the right to defend itself. That is not what I am questioning. What I am questioning is whether the word alliance means the same thing to both sides of this relationship. Because 300 billion dollars and 42 Security Council vetoes and 13 American graves says it should.
That is Everyone Knows. The hard truth, the stuff nobody else will say, and the thing that keeps you going.
I'm Brian Bullock of Starborne Studios. Find me on X at EveryoneKnws1. If this hit you, share it with somebody who needs to hear it. Subscribe. Leave a review. Come find us at brianbullockwriter.com. We're building something here and you're welcome to be part of it.
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