Trump v. Barbara · ¶473

Second, the Court cannot explain why the Fourteenth Amendment did not confer citizenship on children born in the United States to tribal Indians. As explained, federal law governed those children and their parents to the extent the Federal Government wished. If the Court were right that the Citizenship Clause applies to anyone who is born here and is subject to our laws, then the Fourteenth Amendment would have conferred citizenship on all tribal Indians. But the exception for tribal Indians was well-established at the time and remained until Congress eliminated it by statute. See Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, ch. 233, 43 Stat. 253 (“That all non-citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States be, and they are hereby, declared to be citizens of the United States”).

slip opinion, revised 7/01/26
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