Supreme Court deals major blow to President Trump on immigration issue
With a 6-3 vote, President Trump’s citizenship order was rejected. Learn how the justices made their decision and why the 14th Amendment was key.
Activists across the country will gather outside the Supreme Court on July 9 to celebrate the 158th birthday of the 14th Amendment and protest what they call efforts by the Trump administration to undermine “the foundation of every civil rights victory in American history.”
The protest, which organizers called the “Get Free” march, will go ahead regardless of the Supreme Court’s June 30 ruling upholding birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, organizers said.
“For the past 158 years, the 14th Amendment has guaranteed that anyone born here is an American. But the 14th Amendment also requires equal protection as a constitutional right, which is the basis of every major civil rights victory in American history,” said Ladon Love, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group SPACEs In Action. “I see July 9th as a moment to unite under the banner of freedom, under the banner of freedom.”
The march will begin on the steps of the Supreme Court and continue to the National Mall, where a rally and concert will be held. Organizers are expecting thousands of participants.
Organizers say the group is coming from 36 states, including Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, Michigan and New Mexico.
The Trump administration argued that birthright citizenship only applied to children of slaves and was being abused by people looking for a way to obtain American citizenship for their children.
The Supreme Court’s decision blocked an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office denying automatic citizenship to children born in the United States if neither parent is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
People’s Democracy Secretary-General Damareo Cooper said the protest was not about the birthright citizenship case. Rather, he said, it’s about protecting what the 14th Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause broadly mean to the country, including the right to marry who you want, live where you want and advocate for yourself. Equal protection means that the government cannot apply the law arbitrarily or unequally to discriminate against people based on characteristics such as race, gender, or national origin.
“This is a fundamental moment when the people of our country decided that, in fact, everyone should be treated fairly,” Cooper said. Cooper said his progressive advocacy group focuses on Black, brown and low-income communities.
The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, also protects the rights of citizens from encroachment by state governments.
One of the three Reconstruction Amendments passed by Congress after the Civil War, it was intended to protect the rights of newly freed enslaved people. Other Reconstruction amendments abolished slavery and expanded voting rights.
Organizers say recent executive orders and Supreme Court decisions, such as the 2022 Dobbs decision that ended Roe v. Wade’s abortion rights protections and the Curry decision that curtailed access to majority-black neighborhoods, are examples of how the federal government has chipped away at the promises of the 14th Amendment in recent years.
Ksenia Orona, 34, of Maryvale, Ariz., said her group of about 30 people, Fuerte Art Movement, wants to show the world that America believes every citizen has something to contribute and should be able to fully participate in civic life. The 14th Amendment has not always been equally enforced for all Americans, especially under the current administration, which makes it all the more important to protect it into the future, she said.
“We know that this country is flawed. We know that the people who wrote the Constitution and even the 14th Amendment are flawed. But I think what really makes it real is when we try to take something that may be idealistic but imperfect and actually align it with the realities of our lives,” she said.
Gay Brown, 63, of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, said he was going to the protest because people must come together to protect the 14th Amendment, and said it’s important for the country to recognize this is a multicultural, multigenerational fight.
“It’s important to protect the 14th Amendment because we all have the right to be treated as human beings. We all have the right to be respected,” she said. “Repealing the 14th Amendment would be a huge setback to what we’ve already fought for and won, and that’s what they’re trying to take away now.”
