House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has the right instinct after the Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling; he's not pretending a press release will solve it, nor is he acting as if one more angry TV hit will change the law. He's saying Congress has to deal with the question. From Newsmax:
Johnson said he was "very disappointed" with the ruling and argued the decision shifts responsibility to lawmakers to address the issue through legislation or a constitutional amendment.
"I think it subjects the country to serious challenges going forward, and we'll have to deal with it as a Congress," Johnson said.
Johnson also said the ruling leaves little alternative for lawmakers who want to change the policy other than a constitutional amendment.
"I'm sure the conclusion from this opinion is going to be that you've got to amend the Constitution to fix that," he said.
"I will say I'm very disappointed in that outcome," Johnson added.
Good. Citizenship is too big for shortcuts.
President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14160 on Jan. 20, 2025, to limit automatic birthright citizenship for children born in the United States when the mother was unlawfully present or temporarily present. Additionally, if the father was neither a U.S. citizen nor a lawful permanent resident.
The left fought it in court, and the Supreme Court answered in Trump v. Barbara. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the 14th Amendment protects children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present because they're still subject to U.S. jurisdiction.
Conservatives have spent years warning that the left often tries to legislate through lawsuits instead of winning votes. In fairness, Trump didn't hide behind lawfare here. He signed an order, put his name on it, and forced the fight into the open.
The courts blocked him. Now the question moves where hard national questions are supposed to move: Congress.
Johnson, a constitutional lawyer and the speaker of the House, said the ruling was wrong and that Congress must act. President Trump also urged Congress to move by legislation after the decision. From the Denver Gazette:
“Today’s ruling is antithetical to the rule of law and endangers our national security,” Johnson said. “Our country should be under no obligation to permit illegal immigration to America for the sole purpose of engineering citizenship.
“This issue is too important and too precious to get wrong. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the Supreme Court has done.”
Johnson’s statement came ahead of the expected storm of pressure from Trump, who has shifted responsibility to the legislature to help overturn birthright citizenship.
“The Supreme Court upheld Birthright Citizenship, which is too bad for our Country, but we can easily make it up in Congress through Legislation, with the support of the President, that has now been determined during this process,” Trump said Tuesday in a Truth Social post. “No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary! Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship. They will have my Complete and Total Support!”
Here's the part Republicans should say clearly: anything worth doing is worth doing right. If birthright citizenship needs to be narrowed, define it in law, hold hearings, make the case, put members on the record, and explain what “subject to the jurisdiction” means.
Explain why birth tourism and illegal entry shouldn't become automatic pipelines to citizenship for the next generation.
The 14th Amendment says all people born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens of the United States and the state where they live.
Section 5 gives Congress power to enforce the amendment; the old fight has always centered on those words: “subject to the jurisdiction.”
The Court may have made a simple statute harder. If a majority has now treated broad birthright citizenship as a constitutional guarantee. Congress can't just pass a bill and pretend the Court will salute.
Republicans should still pass the strongest lawful bill they can, then be honest about the next step if the courts block it again. A constitutional amendment may be hard.
But hard isn't the same as impossible.
Citizenship isn't a clerical mistake; it's membership in a nation. It carries rights, duties, protection, voting power, and inheritance. A nation that can't define its own political family has surrendered one of the first duties of sovereignty.
The left understands power; it runs to court when it can't pass a bill. Conservatives shouldn't copy that habit when the better argument is constitutional order. Trump opened the fight, and now Johnson has to turn that fight into text, votes, and law.
If Democrats believe birthright citizenship should remain exactly as the Court described it, let them vote that way, and if Republicans believe the 14th Amendment has been stretched beyond its original purpose, let them vote on language that says so.
The country deserves more than fundraising emails and courthouse theater.
Congress wasn't built for easy work; it was built for fights like this one.
Trump took the first swing, and the Court answered. Now Johnson and the House have to prove whether they want a real law or just another talking point.
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