Since everybody’s doing it can’t resist posting this letter “in sisterhood” from Gloria Steinem to my mother circa 1978. Makes one nostalgic for the pre-Selectric era among other things
Peter Spiro
@peterspiro.bsky.social
Law prof, Temple U. All things citizenship
Most shocking thing about today’s birthright citizenship opinion: nobody, not even the libs, does anything with a century of practice consistent with the broad interpretation of the 14A. Total methodological surrender. We’re all originalists now, very much for the worse.
Almost certainly unconstitutional, at least under existing precedent (SCOTUS decisions in Afroyim and Terrazas). But it’s never going to get that far - too many on both sides of the aisle (start with Melania and Baron, and all those Italian and Irish dual citizens) who would fight to keep it.
Maarten Vink@maartenpvink.bsky.social · 10mo agoThis is nuts. Think that is the appropriate legal term for this 'Exclusive Citizenship Act' bill. Includes a generic clause that 'An individual may not be a citizen or national of the United States while simultaneously possessing any foreign citizenship.' (Sec 4(b)) What does that even mean?
This is nuts. Think that is the appropriate legal term for this 'Exclusive Citizenship Act' bill. Includes a generic clause that 'An individual may not be a citizen or national of the United States while simultaneously possessing any foreign citizenship.' (Sec 4(b)) What does that even mean?
Sahil Kapur@sahilkapur.bsky.social · 10mo agoSen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, just introduced a bill to ban Americans from holding dual citizenship. The bill says that to “preserve the integrity of national citizenship, allegiance to the United States must be undivided.” It’s called the Exclusive Citizenship Act.
“Totally absurd but probably will stick” is the motto of the T admin. It’s just one more grift scheme.
Peter Spiro@peterspiro.bsky.social · last yr.So they found a legal workaround for the “Gold Card” - anyone who donates a million bucks automatically qualifies as an “alien of extraordinary ability”. Totally absurd but probably will stick. No one will have standing to challenge.
Category capped at 40k visas a year. This will probably create backlogs and processing delays for aliens who actually have extraordinary ability
Peter Spiro@peterspiro.bsky.social · last yr.So they found a legal workaround for the “Gold Card” - anyone who donates a million bucks automatically qualifies as an “alien of extraordinary ability”. Totally absurd but probably will stick. No one will have standing to challenge.
Back to this from a couple of weeks ago. Glad to know that Kimmel has a Plan B if he needs it.
Peter Spiro@peterspiro.bsky.social · last yr."I love Italy. I like the idea of being a citizen there. And mostly what I like to do is bring my passport to parties and show it to people and make them jealous."
So they found a legal workaround for the “Gold Card” - anyone who donates a million bucks automatically qualifies as an “alien of extraordinary ability”. Totally absurd but probably will stick. No one will have standing to challenge.
The Gold Card
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose.
whitehouse.gov
"I love Italy. I like the idea of being a citizen there. And mostly what I like to do is bring my passport to parties and show it to people and make them jealous."
Jimmy Kimmel Addresses Rumors He’s Fleeing Trump’s America
MAGA world melted down after Kimmel told Sarah Silverman he had obtained Italian citizenship.
thedailybeast.com
Anyone know if Naomi Osaka actually relinquished her US citizenship? Her name never showed up on the renunciation list and Japan now quietly tolerant of birth dual citizens maintaining the status into adulthood.
Why does Naomi Osaka play for Japan? Explaining tennis star's relinquished USA dual citizenship
The tennis star represents Japan on the national stage.
sports.yahoo.com
Crazy story at the intersection of 14th amendment and citizenship qualifications for the franchise.
10 Alaskans born in American Samoa plead not guilty in voting case highlighting citizenship issues
Ten Alaska residents pleaded not guilty Thursday to voter misconduct or other charges in cases that have renewed attention on the complex citizenship status of people born in the U.S. territory of Ame...
yahoo.com
Well said, @peterspiro.bsky.social in @nytimes.com on Marco Rubio’s 2016 defense of birthright citizenship. “There’s no reason why the argument he put to work in 2016 couldn’t be put to work today against the Trump executive order,” Professor Spiro wrote. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/u...
Marco Rubio Once Filed a Brief Embracing Birthright Citizenship
nytimes.com
Can Trump revoke citizenship, and how often does it happen worldwide? > No, and too often. Informative @washingtonpost.com piece drawing on @globalcit.bsky.social data on the regulation of citizenship revokation around the world. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Can Trump revoke citizenship, and how often does it happen worldwide?
Trump has threatened to strip some Americans’ citizenship, which many countries allow in the name of security but critics say can lead to weaponization.
washingtonpost.com
🎯spoke to @aljazeera.com on global citizenship apartheid: m.youtube.com/watch?v=HdHS... Delight to showcase my @mitpress.bsky.social book❗️Brief summary at @icon-s.bsky.social: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... @globalcit.bsky.social @profjacob.bsky.social @weareceu.bsky.social @peterspiro.bsky.social
The i UK newspaper asked me what's going on with citizenship policies across European countries. Here's why I think we are at a turning point in Europe when it comes to citizenship through naturalisation. And why that is worrying. inews.co.uk/news/world/w...
Why it's getting even harder for Brits to become EU citizens
Several countries are looking at increasing residency requirements for citizenship
inews.co.uk
Hanging out in Budapest with a great citizenship crowd ❤️ @jdzankic.bsky.social @bronwenmanby.bsky.social @peterspiro.bsky.social
Maarten Vink@maartenpvink.bsky.social · last yr.Great to back in Budapest to teach at this year's edition of CEU's summer school on Contestations of Citizenship in Times of Global Democratic Backsliding. Looking forward to exchange insights with participants! Thanks for the invitation @jdzankic.bsky.social & Szabolcs Pogonyi. lnkd.in/dqxq-Qn6
Why policing dual nationality makes no sense
Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist Is Stripped of Dutch Citizenship
nytimes.com
Delighted to join!
Maarten Vink@maartenpvink.bsky.social · last yr.Great to back in Budapest to teach at this year's edition of CEU's summer school on Contestations of Citizenship in Times of Global Democratic Backsliding. Looking forward to exchange insights with participants! Thanks for the invitation @jdzankic.bsky.social & Szabolcs Pogonyi. lnkd.in/dqxq-Qn6
I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE. This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined. It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.
I still believe that denaturalization cases will be relatively rare and that the average immigrant does not need to worry about this. But we can definitely expect to see an increase in cases from around 100-150 a year to maybe double that?
Michael Clemens@mclem.org · last yr.The White House has ordered the US Dept. of Justice to prioritize denaturalization: voiding the citizenship of US citizens. Who will it denaturalize? "Any" case that it "determines to be sufficiently important". Point 10 leaves the criteria opaque and arbitrary. substack.com/redirect/169...
“Fraud” can be broadly defined so definitely cause for concern. SCOTUS 2017 decision below unanimously held that misrep must have been “material”. Courts exercise closer scrutiny here than with respect to immigration policies, but there are probably lots of cases in which govt still prevails.
supremecourt.gov
Maarten Vink@maartenpvink.bsky.social · last yr.@peterspiro.bsky.social can we assume this still holds? “Under current policy, with the exception of naturalisation acquired through fraud or misrepresentation, it is impossible for the government to terminate citizenship without an individual’s cooperation.” hdl.handle.net/1814/36498
This is an excellent story, which quotes my @templelaw.bsky.social colleague Laura Bingham. It also provides useful context, showing how the rise of anti-immigrant, technologically powered national security state finds precedents in Obama-era policy. www.npr.org/2025/06/30/n...
DOJ announces plans to prioritize cases to revoke citizenship
Denaturalization is a tactic heavily used during the McCarthy era and one that was expanded during the Obama administration and grew further during President Trump's first term. It's a tool usually us...
npr.org
blog.dividedargument.com/p/initial-th... from Samuel Bray, an expert on and critic of nationwide injunctions frequently cited in Barrett's opinion: "I do not expect the President’s executive order on birthright citizenship will ever go into effect."
I'm still reasonably confident that it won't end this way, and that birthright citizenship is validated against the Trump EO. But if it does end this way (and who knows these days), it will a devastating blow to the Constitution as we have known it.
jamelle@jamellebouie.net · last yr.i also think that it is only a matter of time before this court rewrites section 1 of the 14th to effectively end birthright citizenship. the 14th amendment is the chief obstacle to a legal regime of tiered citizenship and subordinate castes, and they will not let it stand.
It's bad, but thankfully not THAT bad. Class actions remain available (although have their own problems/limitations), and the Court defers on whether an injunction with a nationwide scope may be appropriate to grant to a state in some circumstances, like with the birthright citizenship order here.
ElieNYC@elienyc.bsky.social · last yr.The main upshot of today's birthright citizenship ruling (that I'm still making way through) seems to be that each person victimized by an unconstitutional Trump order has to pretty much sue individually. Trump is free to act unconstitutionally to everybody individually.
This sounds right to me. Birthright citizenship a case to advance unrelated agenda. Will be a lot of confusion but in the end fairly confident one way or another that birthright citizenship will stick - nationwide.
Steve Vladeck@stevevladeck.bsky.social · last yr.Super-quick take while reading the ruling: This is going to be a much bigger deal for challenges to *other* Trump policies than to birthright citizenship (where it's likely that lower courts will still be able to block the policy on a nationwide basis even after this ruling). *That's* the import.