Gov. Ron DeSantis and several Republican leaders criticized a U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ruling upholding birthright citizenship through posts on social media following the decision.
"This was not a decision on procedural grounds (i.e., POTUS can’t do this through executive order but Congress could legislate it); it is a substantive decision that says the 14th amendment requires citizenship for those born to, among others, birth tourists or those unlawfully present in the country," DeSantis wrote. "Will need either a constitutional amendment or a future court to overrule this. Anyway you slice it, the decision is a major defeat."
The 6-3 ruling upends President Donald Trump's executive order declaring that children born in the United States to illegal aliens or temporary visa holders are not U.S. citizens. The majority, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagen, Amy Coney Barrett, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Brett Kavanaugh, concurred Trump's executive order violated the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, which allows birthright citizenship to virtually anyone born in the U.S., regardless of their parents' immigration status.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh dissented, arguing the 1868 amendment was ratified to grant to freed slaves citizenship following the Civil War and in response to the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, which declared African Americans were not U.S. citizens at the time.
Justice Alito also criticized the ruling for being a filter for "birth tourism," a practice in which a pregnant foreign nation travels to another country to give birth. The practice is often abused by Chinese nationals traveling to the U.S. and its territories on tourist visas with the intent of giving birth on American soil.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier also slammed the ruling as damaging to the country and a betrayal to the Constitution and American people.
"No branch of government has done more damage to our country than the U.S. Supreme Court. With this decision, the Court has, yet again, betrayed the Constitution and the American people," Uthmeier wrote.
In addition, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) called for action from Congress, including passing his SAFE KIDS Act to "combat the exploitation of U.S. surrogacy laws for birthright citizenship."
"We need to make sure illegal aliens don’t come into our country and EXPLOIT our immigration system. That means closing EVERY. SINGLE. LOOPHOLE," Scott wrote.
Congressman and Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds (R-FL) also pushed for ending birthright citizenship when posed with the question by The Floridian earlier this year.
