Professors Chin and Johnson Comment on Birthright Citizenship Ruling

Professors Gabriel “Jack” Chin and Kevin R. Johnson spoke to media about the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on June 30 to reject President Donald Trump’s executive order attempting to end automatic birthright citizenship.

“This case makes it clear that at least a majority of the court believes being born here makes you a citizen,” Johnson told San Francisco public radio station KQED after the ruling.

Chin also spoke to KQED for a June 30 report centered on the San Francico roots of birthright citizenship and a July 1 story outlining the rules as they stand now in the United States.

The court’s decision explicitly affirmed that the 14th Amendment protects birthright citizenship, Chin said. But immigrant parents who are expecting a baby soon should confirm they will receive a birth certificate and “hang on” to it once received, he added.

“With [current] immigration enforcement that’s often based on race, every individual has to be prepared — particularly non-white individuals — to prove that they are U.S. citizens,” Chin said. 

Chin, along with UC San Diego Associate Professor of History Verónica Martínez-Matsuda, provided an overview of birthright citizenship on July 1 for San Diego’s KPBS radio.

Before the Supreme Court's decision, Chin talked to BBC News about what was at stake in the case.

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 is the director of the Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies and 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.

Gabriel "Jack" 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.