Trump v. Barbara · ¶510

Wong Kim Ark is therefore best understood as holding that people who are lawfully present here, establish the United States as their intended permanent home, and do everything within their power to become United States citizens can be seen as no longer subject to any foreign power. Thus, their children are born citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment. That interpretation of Wong Kim Ark is consistent with the decision’s statement of its holding; it can be reconciled with the language of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Civil Rights Act; and for the Chinese Americans of Wong Kim Ark’s time, it was the interpretation that best implemented the Fourteenth Amendment’s promise of racial equality.

slip opinion, revised 7/01/26
Source edition
Passage preview. Read in context for the complete text, notes and references.