Trump v. Barbara · ¶116

When ratified, the Citizenship Clause thus vindicated the universalist vision of the delegates at the Colored Conventions and their allies in Congress. Far from the principal dissent’s representations, freed Blacks did not receive citizenship as a reward for their military service or for having, through no choice of their own, “no other homeland [and] no allegiance to any foreign power.” Post, at 1. Instead, the Amendment recognized their rightful claim to birthright citizenship simply and solely by virtue of their having been born on American soil. John Bingham—one of the Amendment’s principal architects—said this clearly: The “rights of citizenship” are universal because they are the “sacred rights of person[hood].”

slip opinion, revised 7/01/26
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