{"id":801,"date":"2026-06-30T18:46:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T18:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=801"},"modified":"2026-06-30T18:46:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T18:46:37","slug":"jackson-delivers-scathing-birthright-opinion-aimed-at-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=801","title":{"rendered":"Jackson Delivers Scathing Birthright Opinion Aimed at Thomas"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson took direct aim at a dissent written by Justice Clarence Thomas in dueling opinions on birthright citizenship<\/u><\/span> Tuesday, highlighting the longstanding divide the two Black members of the Supreme Court have over race and the Constitution.<\/p>\n

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Thomas, who was appointed by President George H. W. Bush and is widely considered to be the Supreme Court\u2019s most conservative justice, has long maintained his belief in a \u201ccolorblind\u201d Constitution \u2014 an argument that drew sharp criticism from Jackson when the court\u2019s majority struck down<\/u><\/span> race-conscious practices in college admissions in 2023.<\/p>\n

Jackson referenced Thomas\u2019 philosophy in her concurring opinion released Tuesday, appearing to underscore the irony after he argued in his dissent that the 14th Amendment\u2019s Citizenship Clause was intended solely to rectify the legacy of slavery.<\/p>\n

The court on Tuesday struck down President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order that would have denied citizenship to children born to parents in the U.S. temporarily or illegally, a policy that Thomas viewed favorably in a dissenting opinion. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority in upholding the court\u2019s long-held interpretation of the 14th Amendment, while Jackson penned a concurring opinion that was largely focused on rebutting Thomas\u2019 arguments.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite his longstanding endorsement of a \u2018colorblind\u2019 Constitution, Justice Thomas now surprisingly suggests that the Citizenship Clause was a race-conscious remedial measure, relating only to \u2018freed slaves such as Dred Scott,\u2019 \u2026 and those who shared with them certain characteristics,\u201d Jackson wrote. \u201cIt is for this reason, he says, that \u2018children who were born in the United States but [to parents] not domiciled here\u2019 are not entitled to claim birthright citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, wrote that Thomas\u2019 \u201cnarrow vision\u201d of the amendment \u201cbears little relationship to the history of its ratification.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cEven worse,\u201d she added, \u201cJustice Thomas\u2019s telling elides the entire point of the Second Founding: The Reconstruction Amendments were an anticaste, antisubordination reset for the Nation, not a mere spot treatment for the dark stain of slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson noted in her opinion that the 14th Amendment was enacted \u201cwith the one pervading purpose of securing equal citizenship for the freed slaves,\u201d but added that the Supreme Court has a history of rulings that \u201ctime and again denied Americans that promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

To support her point, Jackson listed 11 cases in the footnotes of her opinion, including the 2023 affirmative action decision. She wrote in the footnotes, \u201cI suspect, though, that Justice Thomas and I disagree about when and how that promise has been denied by this Court. My list is long (and sadly only getting longer).\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson further said Thomas approached the 14th Amendment with a \u201cmyopic treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Amendment caused a paradigm shift in the trajectory of our Nation,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe teacher who scolds a student for bullying a classmate hopes the student learns the broader lesson of treating everyone with kindness, not just that one kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The divide between the high court\u2019s two Black justices was evident once again on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts"],"yoast_head":"\nJackson Delivers Scathing Birthright Opinion Aimed at Thomas - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=801\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jackson Delivers Scathing Birthright Opinion Aimed at Thomas - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The divide between the high court\u2019s two Black justices was evident once again on Tuesday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=801\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-30T18:46:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=801#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=801\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Jackson Delivers Scathing Birthright Opinion Aimed at Thomas\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-30T18:46:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=801\"},\"wordCount\":530,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=801#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/ba4507e210d40344e9d9e7dfea0e5295-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Courts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=801#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=801\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=801\",\"name\":\"Jackson Delivers Scathing Birthright Opinion Aimed at Thomas - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=801#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=801#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/ba4507e210d40344e9d9e7dfea0e5295-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-30T18:46:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=801#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=801\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=801#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/ba4507e210d40344e9d9e7dfea0e5295-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/ba4507e210d40344e9d9e7dfea0e5295-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"FILE - Members of the Supreme Court sit for a new group portrait following the addition of Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, Oct. 7, 2022. 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