Imadethisaccounttopost
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Apr 1, 2026 6:11 PM
Imadethisaccounttopost
28572
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9
CatSparkleBreaker
"oh, I'm an originalist when it comes to native Americans"
codenameRadical
C is for Citizenship. *nom nom nom nom nom*
djangojazz
Every day is the worst news I have ever heard. Till the next day, in the US lately.
Freeasabird2015
Snooj
Even worse, this is like if you *were* Cookie Monster, and you went to a panel on cookies, and someone asked you a question about cookies, and you didn't realize there would be questions about cookies and couldn't come up with any answers off the cuff.
squillis
Ahh, the classic "my boss hasn't told me what I think yet" response
MarkRavingMad
The DOJ is hemorrhaging talent and none of the big DC firms want anything to do with this administration. The reason Trump's lawyers seem like D-list morons is because that's all that's left.
dixxienormus
Are they white or red? Or Red, White and Blue?
soulseekbob2320
My preparation notes do not cover that situation. But I CAN TELL YOU what a wonderful job our president is doing. Ooop, excuse me 🤮🤑 aahhhh
urusername2
WOW!
copperdomebodhi
The 14th Amendment says if you were born in America, you're an American citizen. In U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark (1898), SCOTUS ruled that if you were born in America, you're an American citizen. In 1952, Congress passed an Immigration and Nationality Act. Clause 8 U.S.C. § 1401(a) of that act said if you were born in America, you're an American citizen. The Trump administration is pushing a lunatic-fringe legal theory, and the media needs to make that clear.
gablestout
15 minutes into the arguments, it was painfully clear that not only was SCOTUS going to rule against Trump, but whether it is going to be a unanimous decision. Highly unlikely Thomas will side with Trump. He's an Originalist, so he's going to side plainly with the original meaning at the time it was ratified in 1868. Alito is the only one I think MIGHT vote otherwise.
The justices were not kind to the Solicitor General's arguments...
Rangar
Brought to you by the people who think ICE should deport Native Americans . . . .
Dannyalcatraz
Not necessarily a big fan of Gorsuch, but this is the kind of case he’s been waiting for literally his entire legal career. He’s strongly advocated for overturning the Insular Cases, a series of early 20th-century Supreme Court decisions that denied full constitutional rights to U.S. territories. In a 2022 United States v. Vaello Madero concurrence, he labeled them "shameful," arguing they are based on racial stereotypes and lack any basis in the Constitution’s original meaning.
copperdomebodhi
Gorsuch is an odd duck: very pro-Native tribes, Heritage-Foundation-right on every other issue.
Dannyalcatraz
And FWIW, arch-originalist Antonin Scalia was pretty consistent on viewing the 14th Amendment as granting birthright citizenship to those born “subject to the jurisdiction” of the USA, regardless of the legal status of the parents.
It will be interesting to see if Thomas shares his mentor’s view, or if he follows the money.
shalafi71
Zero prep on my part: "American Indians have been citizens since at least the 40s, no questions asked." (I'm wrong, since 1924, but at least since the 40s! Still did better than this ass.)
tentacularfleshscape
Oddly enough gorsuch is actually kinda good on Native American rights, iirc? It's like he has one correct opinion, as a hobby. So maybe that part of it at least he won't go for
gablestout
11 years on the 10th circuit. (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma). Spent a lot of time on Native American legal disputes https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/08/justice-gorsuch-and-what-is-owed-to-american-indians/
tentacularfleshscape
Cheers ty for corroboration.
Gogoglovitch
Or that you're well aware that the honest answer would be that cookies are not on the menu, and you know that Cookie Monster would not be pleased by that answer. (Gorsuch, for all his flaws, has always been very pro-Native American rights.)
MartianWeasel
So, my great grandparents were all undocumented citizens. So will this mean that my grandparents, parents, and then me are not citizens?
RatsLiveOnNoEvilStar
If this actually goes Trump’s way, it won’t be retroactive. It will (theoretically) only affect only those born after the decision.
But I trust that about as much as anything else this admin does
MartianWeasel
Like seriously. How do they draw the line on this? We are all immigrants to one degree or another (with the exception of NAs). The vast, overwhelming majority of citizens are the children of "birthright" citizens... so where's the line? How do they justify this shit? Probably exclusively on skin color or some bullshit.
randomthingsonthenet
surely this is just an elaborate april fools joke, right?
IgnisInvictus
No.
Sadly, pathetically, no.
gablestout
My favorite was still Chief Justice Roberts: "It's a new world. It's the same Constitution."
That's a SCOTUS slap if I've ever heard one.
NoNoNodontstoparockin
If the Indigenous citizens start getting deported to Mexico I would not be surprised.
androgenoide
It's happened before.
hotaru251
they already held some native tribes people in detention. https://time.com/7379166/ice-native-american-arrests-minneapolis-oglala-sioux-tribe/
Shoutrr
that's because it has nothing to do with birthright, it's all about skin color
Arcanum3000
It's not about skin color either. Or at least not entirely. It's about having a way to disenfranchise people the regime considers inconvenient.
androgenoide
When reservations were considered sovereign nations Amerindians were excluded from citizenship under the 14th amendment. Reservation Indians didn't become citizens until 1924.
JRaven419
1 star on that yelp review for not honoring the reservation
Magjee
Yep, over a century of citizenship, these guys are hearing arguments as if this is not settled
shalafi71
I had guessed since the 40s before looking. Still did better than this ass.
bojeefus
I don't understand the cookie monster analogy. Is Gorsuch native american or something?
Arcanum3000
I actually don't know if he's Native American, but he's very big on Native American legal questions and issues. And even if he wasn't, "How does your stance affect Native Americans" should not be a surprising question.
gablestout
He's a steadfast supporter of Native American legal rights
gablestout
He spent 11 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma) adjudicating disputes involving Native Americans. He's actually a steadfast supporter of Native American rights.
Bojovnik84
He will cite some bullshit law from England that was 300 years before the US existed as justification that no, they are not citizens.
FiftyShadesOfArugula
They're basing their entire argument against birthright citizenship on a legal case from 1884, long before the Indian Citizenship Act, in which a Native American man born in the US was barred from voting. That's how far they want to turn back the clock.
WhoIsFlabbergasted
And yet the defense of birthright citizenship was established in 1898 in the Wong Kim Ark case.
Sauer can't figure out if he's going to spew shit out of either his mouth or his ass at this point, because both cases involve non-Whites
trippingthelightfantastic
ParaspriteHugger
brendino87
They are. Trump gifted all his sycophants shoes that dont fit
yeahhedugit
https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1N3U3enVrcGxxbm53YjZ5M2IxZjE4eGNpdHhqZXR6NXl4b2lsbnczOSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/anYBNhqT2BYcg/200w.webp
TheVampireDante
If he wasn't such an inept clown, that might have been seen as some weird mob boss style warning to them, "do as told to fill your role (the shoes) or I'll find someone that will" sort of nonsense.
malbec
This is absolutely about demanding compliance. I worked for people who use these tactics. I was taught to do this.
TheMightyMollusk
Subtilico
They've got big shoes to fill.
nimeton0
Ask the entire Supremacist KKKourt.
gablestout
To be fair, The entire Court was skeptical. Latest analysis I've read has this going 0-9 or 1-8 against Trump. Chief Justice damn near threw a copy of the Constitution at the Solicitor General...
77hnx994wv10
As an attorney it’s pretty clear that the justices really didn’t like the solicitor who sounds like he’s been eating fiberglass and nails for the last 30 years, his BS arguments and having the petulant child in chief sitting in the audience trying to intimidate the justices into doing what he wants even though the constitution clearly says what he wants is illegal
animi
77hnx994wv10
I see you even have Clayton Bigsby in the photo. This truly is an accurate representation
Leaveittojebus
fluxfusion3
Reminded of the scene in Blazing Saddles: "Hey, where are the white women?"
MorganAboutTown
You forgot to wash your hands after the cross burning.
HashMaster9k
Magjee
When the klan said no blacks, it implies one is allowed
Toqom
They are fine with a black man betrayal, but when he retires they'll call him the same they call every blackman
swedeonamoose
You cant just ask a politician something like that whitout prep time so they can form a 10 min answear that dosnt really answear the question.
Grapeape2000
Clearly not a politician. A politician would have immediately answered...a different question.
unluckyandbored
I could never be the one asking them questions. I would lose my temper so fucking fast. "YES OR NO, mister Senator. It's a YES or NO question. A simple YES OR NO is all I'm asking for. YES. OR. NO?!"
DukeDarkwood
The fact that people are not doing this infuriates me.
I have always thought, if I could pick ONE superpower, just one - and if immortality weren't an option - it would be this: When I ask someone a direct, clear question, I am guaranteed a full and truthful answer. I've thought this for 20-30 years; most of my life. But recent years have made me realize it could very well be a world-saving power.
But still. The press and Democrat congresspeople need to do this. FORCE answers.
haveanupvotegif
Watch some hearings on CSPAN. They literally do that “yes or no” tactic all the time. It also fails to get a truthful answers out of these people.
LaughingMan2Gig
Not a politician. He's the lawyer representing the administration
a1b3117
He's the fucking solictitor general
soThatWasThat
At the Supreme Court. 15 months after the executive order was signed.
RadioFloyd
*lawyear
hogeyegrex
So… a politician.
bippityboppitybuttsex
The answer is 'no'... they only consider white male Christians to be citizens.... everyone else is some form of chattel property.
Imjurbro
A lot of white male Christians died making the 14th amendment possible throughout the US. It will be upheld here too.
zanli
And then other white Christian men threw away what they died for in favour of another century of oppression.
Imjurbro
Nope. The 14th amendment will be upheld and the rights that flow from it to everyone born here will have to be upheld as well.
johnathanrossshoulddie
I do not know why you have such faith in bigots and craven liberals to do the right thing, but you should have less faith in it.
Imjurbro
The thing you’re worried about losing was won by the people you’re dismissing.
dynamojoe
Not that I’ll be around to see it, but the next step will be only land-owning white male Christians can be citizens. If you have no property, you are property.
bippityboppitybuttsex
As a white male atheistic Jewish person who owns a house, I missed it by _this_ much
brendino87
As a white male atheistic Jewish person who also owns a house --> im with you lmao
bippityboppitybuttsex