Trump Just Released His Plan to Revoke Birthright Citizenship. It's Worse Than Imagined.

[Ms. Toad]

31. Your daughter-in-law will be fine.

Unlike Trump, the person who wrote the executive order has decent legal knowledge. I thing it is a big stretch - even with this Supreme Court, and even limiting its application to children not yet born when the order was signed.

But applying it retroactively would be logistically impossible - and that is one of the things the court does take into account. It would be virtually impossible to apply it retroactively because of the need to prove not only that (taking the easiest case of the options) at least one parent was a citizen - but that also at least one parent of that parent (one grandparent in the same line), and one parent of that grandparent (i.e. one great-grandparent in the same line). I know my great-grandparents - and the citizenship of all of them (in fact I can trace my geneology back multiple generations on both sides since 3 of 4 grandparent's generations had someone who did the work of tracing the family tree). But many people can't - so determining citizenship based on one's ancestors through several generations is impossible, as a practical matter.

To address that question - that would otherwise be raised by challengers, the drafters of the EO eliminated it: The interpretation only applies going forward.

There are other things built into the EO which - as someone who has spent a lot of time judging moot court competitions - were obviously written to make it as palatable as possible if the court is inclined to adopt Trump's interpretation. One of the things you do when you are trying to change what everyone assumes the law means is to just stretch it a little (a small class - those who have no legal right to be in the US AND who aren't the co-parent with anyone with a legal right to be in the US) - and to address practical concerns about the new interpretation.

That said - I don't see how they can claim - on the one hand - that the US does not have jurisdiction over these parents, and on the other hand it does (it can convict them - unlike the children of foreign dignitaries whom we actually have no jurisdiction over and we can deport them). But now is the best time (given the court make-up) - so it is a now or never Hail Mary.

I would be more worried about your DIL's parents. Green cards and other legal statuses can be changed under some circumstances, and Trump is pushing the limits in those areas. Unlike the birthright citizenship (carefully crafted challenge they hope will succeed), with changing legal status they are employing a flood-the-endzone stragegy. Their plan is less to change the law (or the interpretation of the law) but to create chaos, make those brown folks feel unwelcome and unsettled so they will leave, etc. Even if they lose every court battle, how many people seeking refuge here will ever (or at least in the foreseeable future) will feel safe here?