Some underscore Trump’s unprecedented court appearance as protesters defend 14th amendment right
Around 250 demonstrators packed the steps of the supreme court on Wednesday, chanting in defense of birthright citizenship as Donald Trump himself watched from the public gallery in an unprecedented appearance.
Beija McCarter, an eighth grade US history teacher, and Noah Goldstein, a New Yorker who was also at last month’s trans rights rally, both arrived at the demonstration with little optimism about what the justices inside might decide.
“Checks and balances only work if there’s balance, and we’re not really having that,” said McCarter, who was born in Brazil to American military parents and had to formally apply for her own citizenship, giving her a small window into a process that is far harder for most others. “The rhetoric is that immigrants are taking our jobs, but they’re actually doing the jobs that Americans aren’t hoping to do – we should be nicer to our neighbor.”
Goldstein was just as blunt about the court itself: “All nine of those justices in there know that birthright citizenship is codified in the fourteenth amendment, and I’m not confident that they are going to speak to what they know to be true.”
