Trump v. Barbara · ¶480

The question in Schooner Exchange concerned the circumstances under which a sovereign is deemed under the law of nations to have implicitly waived part of its otherwise complete sovereignty over its territory. The Fourteenth Amendment, however, does not waive any part of the United States’ sovereignty. It is true that the Government has waived its sovereign right to subject covered diplomats and their dependents to legal process, but that is done by a statute, 22 U. S. C. §254a et seq., that implements treaty obligations and respects long-established norms of international law. Neither that statute, nor any treaty into which the United States has entered, nor any international law norm requires the United States to confer birthright citizenship on any child born here to alien parents.

slip opinion, revised 7/01/26
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