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Vice President JD Vance didn’t mince words Wednesday when asked about Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s decision to side with liberals in striking down President Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship. “Do I think she made a mistake in the ruling? I do!” Vance told reporters, making clear that the administration views the 5-4 decision as a serious judicial overreach that undermines the very meaning of American citizenship.
The Supreme Court’s ruling, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by Barrett along with the court’s three progressive justices, declared that children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are automatically citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment. But Vance pushed back hard on that interpretation, questioning how anyone could reasonably argue that a person who enters the country illegally or comes specifically to give birth is truly “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States in the way the Constitution’s framers intended.
This isn’t just a legal technicality we’re arguing about. The administration’s executive order was designed to end the practice of birthright citizenship for babies born to illegal aliens, a policy that has long served as a magnet for illegal immigration and created an entire industry of birth tourism operators who profit from exploiting this constitutional loophole. When foreign nationals can simply cross our border, have a child on American soil, and instantly claim citizenship for that child, what incentive exists to respect our immigration laws?
Barrett’s defection on this issue stings particularly for conservatives who championed her confirmation and viewed her as a reliable originalist voice on the court. The fact that she joined Roberts and the liberal bloc while Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh stood firm in dissent raises serious questions about whether she truly shares the conservative judicial philosophy that was promised. Vance’s public criticism signals that the White House is done playing nice with justices who campaign as constitutional conservatives only to legislate from the bench once confirmed.
The administration isn’t backing down despite the setback. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has already directed federal prosecutors to prioritize investigations into birth tourism schemes, using existing criminal statutes to target the fraud, money laundering, and visa fraud that enable this exploitation. If the courts won’t let Trump fix the problem through executive action, his team will find other ways to enforce the law and protect the integrity of American citizenship. That’s what leadership looks like.
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