JCPA Statement as SCOTUS Hears Arguments in Birthright Citizenship Case

“We should make no mistake: this administration’s attempt to end birthright citizenship is nothing more than a bigoted, divisive, and unconstitutional effort to advance an extremist vision for this country.

It’s not accidental that the administration’s own legal defense relies on white supremacist, racist, and xenophobic conspiracies from over a century ago — arguments used by the Confederate officer who defended segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson and that were rejected by the Supreme Court in 1898’s United States v. Wong Kim Ark.

The Jewish community knows exactly where it leads when the government uses bigotry to advance dangerous, draconian, and dehumanizing policies. Our safety is inextricably tied to the rights and safety of all communities and our inclusive, pluralistic democracy. Further normalizing the conspiracy theories at the heart of this effort to end birthright citizenship only further normalizes the broader hate and extremism that threatens all of us.

The Supreme Court should reject these bigoted, false, and extreme arguments, just as it has for over a century.”