The Supreme Court term ended today with the release of three final opinions. I have not yet had time to read them, but for now will simply recite the results with a few additional comments.
The most important decision is Trump v. Barbara, in which the Court held, 6-3, that the 14th Amendment requires that the children of illegal aliens be citizens of the United States. This result is disappointing but not unexpected. It means, among other things, that Chinese birth tourism works: there are potentially hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens who eventually will be able to vote in our elections. It also means that the Democrats’ strategy of admitting millions of illegals in hopes that their offspring will vote Democrat will continue to be successful. But the decision is defensible as an interpretation of the amendment.
In West Virginia v. B.J.P., the Court held 6-3 (with the dissenters concurring in part) that under Title IX and the 14h Amendment, schools can limit women’s sports teams to women. That should have been, and was, an easy call.
In National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission, the Court held 6-3, along the usual lines, that the Federal Election Campaign Act’s limit on the ability of political parties to coordinate spending with the campaigns of that party’s candidates violates the First Amendment. The decision does not affect the anti-coordination rule that applies to third-party PACs, etc.
This year’s Supreme Court term produced mixed results. There were some notable victories for conservatives, but also important defeats, the birthright citizenship case being first on that list. Perhaps the most notable feature of the term was the solidarity of the three Democrat-appointed justices, who voted as a bloc with their party in just about every case that had partisan impact.
