Trump v. Barbara is the Supreme Court\u2019s most significant interpretation of the Fourteenth <\/i>Amendment\u2019s Citizenship Clause since <\/i>United States v. Wong Kim Ark. The Supreme Court held <\/i>Executive Order 14160 unconstitutional because it sought to restrict access to birthright <\/i>citizenship based on parental immigration status. The litigation, however, reveals a deeper <\/i>constitutional struggle over inherited legal status. As we grapple with the rise of white supremacy, <\/i>Justice Jackson\u2019s concurrence reminds us that the Reconstruction Amendments were designed to <\/i>dismantle systems of race-based subordination.<\/i><\/p>\n
This Article draws on citizenism to explain how restricting access to birthright citizenship <\/i>based on formally race-neutral immigration and citizenship status reproduces racial hierarchy. <\/i>Drawing on national origin data for undocumented and temporary-status populations, it <\/i>demonstrates that efforts to re-whiten U.S. citizenship, such as Executive Order 14160, fall <\/i>disproportionately on mixed-status families of color. According to demographic evidence, <\/i>Indigenous, Black, Latinx\/e, and Asian and Pacific Islander communities would bear the greatest <\/i>burden, with Mexican-origin families comprising the largest affected group. In doing so, the <\/i>Article offers a constitutional and empirical account of how citizenship restrictions can perpetuate <\/i>racial subordination without relying on explicit racial classifications.<\/i><\/p>\n
This Article further demonstrates how these restrictions transmit legal vulnerability across <\/i>generations. The foreseeable multigenerational harms include increased inequality within the <\/i>family structure, heightened vulnerability to economic exploitation, worsening health disparities, <\/i>and a greater risk of statelessness. Without intervention, as people of color become the majority <\/i>of the U.S. population, racial hierarchy will be recreated under citizenism, thereby undermining <\/i>the multiracial democratic foundations established by the Reconstruction Constitution.<\/i><\/p>\n