Professors Chin, Johnson Talk to Media About Ruling in Birthright Citizenship Case

Professors Gabriel “Jack” Chin and Kevin R. Johnson spoke to national and regional media on June 27 about the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in the birthright citizenship case to limit universal injunctions issued by federal courts.

Noting that injunctions halting President Donald Trump’s January executive order banning automatic birthright citizenship “likely exceed” the lower courts’ authority, the conservative majority granted the government's bid for a partial stay of the injunctions. The court also paused the executive order for 30 days. Immigrants’ advocates immediately responded with a federal class-action lawsuit against the Trump ban.

Chin told the Washington Post that although class-action lawsuits can be difficult to win, lawyers working on behalf of undocumented immigrants and international visitors targeted by Trump's ban might have a strong case.

“This concept was anticipated by the lawyers — they weren’t hanging their hats entirely on the universal injunction,” Chin said. “And in a class action, there can be preliminary relief such as a preliminary injunction in the same way.”

Johnson spoke to the National News Desk, Reuters and San Francisco’s KQED public radio station about the Supreme Court decision.

Johnson noted to the National News Desk that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent “claims the majority undermines the rule of law by limiting the relief that a federal court can provide.” Johnson added that, “My sense is that her concern with the rule of law stems from much more than this case but to removals to third countries, reliance on the Aliens Enemies Act of 1798, wrongful deportations … and more."

Johnson told KQED that the question of whether lower courts can issue sweeping injunctions has long been debated by both conservatives and liberals.

“The Supreme Court has expressed a concern with all the injunctions coming before it on various matters, including immigration,” he said. “The court has … lost its patience with all these lawsuits, all these injunctions, all of these efforts to limit the prerogative of the president.”

Johnson said it’s likely that the rule of birthright citizenship will continue to be enforced as federal judges release more limited injunctions.

Kevin R. Johnson is a distinguished professor of law, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law, and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law. Johnson also has an appointment as professor of Chicana/o studies at UC Davis. He served as dean of UC Davis Law from 2008 to 2024. Johnson is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.

Chin is a Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law and holder of the Edward L. Barrett Jr. Endowed Chair at UC Davis School of Law. He is a prolific and much-cited criminal and immigration law scholar whose work has addressed many of the most pressing social issues of our time.