Let me tell you something. I’ve raised four kids in this country. I’ve filled out the birth certificate paperwork four times. Not once did some bureaucrat ask me for my passport before they handed my newborn a Social Security number. Because that’s not how America works. Or at least, that’s not how it’s supposed to work.
Donald Trump already tried to end birthright citizenship with an executive order. The Supreme Court looked at it and said no. That was June 30, 2026, in a case called Trump v. Barbara. You’d think that would be the end of it. A mom tells her kid, “I said no, and I meant it.” But Trump is not a child who listens. On August 6, 2026, he signed two more executive orders trying to do the exact same thing. Restrict who gets to be a citizen. Decide which babies born on American soil count and which ones don’t.
Shealeah Craighead (Public domain) via Wikimedia CommonsThe 14th Amendment says “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.” That’s not a suggestion. That’s not a guideline. That’s the Constitution. The same Constitution Trump swore an oath to. The ACLU has been saying this is unconstitutional. Scholars across the political spectrum have been saying it. The Supreme Court already said it once. And he’s back for round two.
Here’s what burns me up. While Trump is out there trying to strip citizenship from babies, some law professor at UIC published a whole paper arguing that the “natural born citizen” requirement for president violates due process. You read that right. Not being allowed to run for president is apparently a civil rights violation now. I’m sorry, but since when is the presidency a birthright? My eight-year-old wants to stay up until midnight on a school night. Is that a due process violation too?
The 5th Amendment says no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process. Last I checked, not being president doesn’t deprive you of your life, your liberty, or your property. You know what does deprive you of liberty? Being told you’re not a citizen of the country where you were born. Being turned into a stateless person because your parents’ paperwork didn’t satisfy a man who’s on his third wife and his second round of unconstitutional executive orders.
Mark Stebnicki / PexelsThe Harvard Law Review already settled what “natural born citizen” means. Two former solicitors general, one from each party, wrote that it means anyone who’s a citizen from birth, whether they’re born in Texas or a hospital in Canada like Ted Cruz. The First Congress said the same thing in 1790. This isn’t a mystery. It isn’t an injustice. It’s a qualification for a job, like being 35 or living here for 14 years.
But somehow the same crowd that wants to narrow who gets to be a citizen also wants us to believe that keeping foreign-born citizens out of the Oval Office is the real oppression. You can’t make this up. They want to take citizenship away from babies and give the presidency to people who weren’t born here. Which is it? Who counts and who doesn’t?
Michael Vadon (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia CommonsI did my own research. I read the 14th Amendment. I read the Supreme Court ruling. I read the executive orders. And I have one question for the manager of this whole operation: why are you spending my tax dollars fighting to take rights away from American babies while your academic friends write papers about how not being president is a human rights violation?
The Supreme Court said no once. It’s going to say no again. And in the meantime, real kids are caught in the middle of a man’s ego trip.