The hard right has long wanted to end birthright citizenship in the United States. The view only came into vogue with the Republican mainstream — and entered the White House — in the last decade.
Continue reading “Nativists Loom Over SCOTUS Birthright Citizenship Arguments”Republicans Don’t Actually Have to Make Social Safety Net Cuts Again
In Emine Yücel’s newly published piece about Republicans’ struggles to pass a slew of President Trump’s priorities ahead of the midterms, she digs in on a crucial point that isn’t getting much discussion.
Since Republican leadership doesn’t want to nuke the filibuster in order to pass the SAVE America Act, they’re doing a big performance for Trump to show that they’ll figure out a way to cram all of his needs — passing the voter suppression bill and funding for his war in Iran as well as the Department of Homeland Security — into another reconciliation package. Republicans are considering paying for the new spending for Trump’s latest fixations with more cuts to the social safety net, under the guise of rooting out rampant “fraud,” the admin’s favorite new word.
But in many cases, they won’t actually have to do that. The new spending is just a convenient excuse for more cuts.
Continue reading “Republicans Don’t Actually Have to Make Social Safety Net Cuts Again”Justices Express Skepticism Over Birthright Citizenship Case They Never Should Have Taken in the First Place
The conservative justices on Wednesday were, at times, appropriately skeptical of the Trump administration’s patched-together attempt to undermine birthright citizenship, a bedrock of American life for well over a century.
Continue reading “Justices Express Skepticism Over Birthright Citizenship Case They Never Should Have Taken in the First Place”A Few Timely Thoughts on Birthright Citizenship
I wanted to share a few thoughts on questions that are adjacent to or secondary to the question the Supreme Court is being asked to take up today. That is in part because there is no real question they are being asked to take up. Birthright citizenship is the clear, intended and unambiguous law of the federal constitution. One might as well try to complicate or question whether the document creates a federal senate. I have a source and correspondent deep in the federal bureaucracy who is a specialist in a specific area of federal law unrelated to citizenship questions. And even though I’ve written about this at length over the years, by going over developments in this person’s area of law with them it has helped me crystalize my own thinking on this topic.
Almost all of these cases are based on the premise, the working assumption of what can the U.S. Constitution mean if we decide that words or established phrases simply have no meaning and we can simply piece the individual words together based on their dictionary definitions? So what does the “law of the land” mean? Well, it turns out some guy who did a stint at the Claremont Institute and now teaches at some obscure law school has written a bracing new law review article about how it refers to agricultural policy, mineral and agricultural rights and the law of farming. That’s really where we are here.
Continue reading “A Few Timely Thoughts on Birthright Citizenship”ICE and War Funding Can Now Become the Latest Excuse to Gut the Social Safety Net
Congressional Republicans have been musing about the possibility of a second reconciliation package for some time now. The conversations picked up recently after Senate Republicans tried to convince President Donald Trump to drop his objections on a possible Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding deal, promising the president that they will pass the SAVE America Act through the reconciliation process — as a way to circumvent the filibuster.
So far, Republicans have said they want to include funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — and possibly even all of DHS — the Department of Defense (DoD) and Trump’s war in Iran in a new reconciliation package. There is also talk of trying to cram the SAVE America Act, or parts of it, into a potential reconciliation package, in order to appease Trump and far-right supporters of the voter suppression bill — though some are not convinced that is possible. Including the bill that requires documentary proof of citizenship in reconciliation will be a tall order as every single provision going into a reconciliation bill must be directly related to the budget and has to comply with strict budget rules.
Continue reading “ICE and War Funding Can Now Become the Latest Excuse to Gut the Social Safety Net”The Supreme Court Decides Who Is Really American In Blockbuster Arguments
The Supreme Court, at President Trump’s behest, will reconsider the bedrock American principle of birthright citizenship on Wednesday in the biggest case of the term, United States v. Barbara.
The administration is trying to exclude the children of “temporary visitors” and “illegal aliens,” arguing that they lack sufficient loyalty to the United States to deserve its protections. Such an argument, should the Court accept it, would pervert the understanding of American citizenship that has reigned for 128 years.
Bros Will Be Bros: Hegseth Intervenes in Kid Rock Flyby
‘Carry On, Patriots’
It is one of the burdens of the Trump era that the silliest, most absurd things often implicate grave matters of historic import.
The Republic will not rise or fall on Army helicopter pilots joyriding over the Tennessee mansion of Kid Rock, but the civilian secretary of defense intervening for political purposes in the military’s investigation and discipline process for the misconduct erodes command and control and good order and discipline.
Thank you @KidRock.@USArmy pilots suspension LIFTED.
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) March 31, 2026
No punishment. No investigation.
Carry on, patriots. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/Zqhv1Zx1iG
Hegseth’s “it’s all good here” tweet came after the Army suspended the pilots of the two Apache helicopters and initiated an investigation. Given past incidents, it would likely have led to discipline of the pilots, in accordance with longstanding military policies against these kinds of stunts.
There’s a long history here of cowboying that the military has sought to rein in, and it’s unconnected to the midair collision last year in D.C. between a civilian airliner and an Army helicopter. In 1998, for example, 20 people were killed in Italy when their cable car plunged to the ground after a U.S. Marine Corps aircraft flying too low and too fast sheared the car’s cable. No one in the cable car survived.
The two Apaches, based at Ft. Campbell along the Tennessee-Kentucky border, also buzzed the No Kings rally in Nashville before the close approach to Kid Rock’s swimming pool. Army officials said before Hegseth’s intervention that it wasn’t clear yet if the flight path over the protest was coincidental or another unapproved deviation, the WaPo reported:
Within about two hours on Saturday, one of the helicopters flew by demonstrators six times at McGregor Park in Clarksville, Tennessee, dipping as low as 625 feet, according to publicly available flight data. At one point, the aircraft briefly circled an area where protesters were gathered.
Kid Rock is a MAGA diehard, as high-profile a pro-Trump celebrity as you’ll find. Hegseth is letting the pilots off the hook — and undermining their chain of command and the rules and regs that all military pilots must adhere to — with a bro-to-bro thumbs up that it’s all good because of the naked political affiliations involved.
Latest on the Middle East …
- WSJ: U.A.E. Wants to Force Hormuz Open and Is Willing to Join the Fight
- BBC: Jet fuel and diesel shortages to hit Europe hard in April, warns energy agency chief
- WSJ: Trump to Address Nation Wednesday on Iran
Trump Issues Wild New EO on Voting
In his latest effort to seize extralegal control over the state-run midterm elections, President Trump issued a new executive order that purports to direct:
1. DHS to create a “State Citizenship List” of “individuals confirmed to be United States citizens who will be above the age of 18 at the time of an upcoming Federal election and who maintain a residence in the subject State.”
2. the U.S. Postal Service not to mail ballots to anyone not already on a separate approved list it keeps called the “Mail-In and Absentee Participation List.”
Election law expert Rick Hasen tries to make sense of this structure, which is odd and convoluted in addition to plainly unlawful:
To put this in plain terms: the order would use the USPS, which is not under the direct control of the President, to interfere with a state’s lawful transmission of ballots. If the state does not comply with these rules, federal law would purport to interfere with a state’s conduct of its own elections.
The EO is unlawful in numerous respects and will face immediate legal challenges.
Birthright Citizenship at SCOTUS
Detect a theme?
- Madiba K. Dennie: The Supreme Court Has Never Heard a Case As Easy As This One
- Pema Levy: The Nonsense Case Against Birthright Citizenship
- TPM’s Kate Riga and Josh Kovensky: The Supreme Court will consider President Trump’s far-right fever dream that perverts what the Constitution already says about who gets to be an American citizen.
TPM’s live coverage of this morning’s oral arguments, which President Trump is attending in person, is already underway right here.
Mass Deportation Watch
- TPM’s Josh Kovensky: Inside the Bizarre Feedback Loop Between DHS and MAGA Influencers
- Chicago Tribune: The final numbers are in on Operation Midway Blitz: 3,800 people detained, 2,500 deported, most without criminal records.
Trump DOJ Watch
- ProPublica: Trump DOJ Dropped 23,000 Criminal Investigations in Shift to Immigration
- Politico: Trump tactics leave federal prosecutors’ offices rudderless
- NYT: DOJ “Struggles” to Respond to Trump’s $10B Suit Against I.R.S
Jan. 6 Never Ends
In the long-running lawsuit by police officers and Democratic lawmakers against President Trump for the Jan. 6 attack, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta of D.C. ruled that Trump’s speech at the Ellipse was political and not covered by the official acts immunity lavished upon him by the Supreme Court.
The Purges
- FBI: Three fired FBI agents who worked on Trump investigations have filed a class action lawsuit in what is the most comprehensive effort to challenge the unlawful retributive terminations.
- VOA: The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals paused a lower court ruling that had ordered the reinstatement of about 1,000 Voice of America reporters and support staff, meaning the agency will continue to be crippled while the Trump administration’s appeal plays out.
Trump’s PBS/NPR EO Unconstitutional
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss of D.C. issued an injunction barring the Trump administration from implementing or enforcing the May 2025 executive order that purported to end federal funding for public broadcasting. Since the lawsuit was filed, Congress rescinded a billion dollars in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which has since dissolved.
Ominous Headline of the Day
“Federal Judge Approves Trump Effort to Obtain List of Jews From Penn“
Notable
U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker of Tyler, Texas, rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to allow religious leaders to endorse candidates from the pulpit.
Judge (!) Blocks Trump Ballroom
Exclamation-point-happy Judge Richard Leon of D.C. issued a preliminary
injunction blocking the continued construction of the vanity ballroom project over the ruins of the East Wing of the White House “until Congress authorizes its completion.”
“No statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have,” Leon ruled.
President Trump reacted predictably to the adverse ruling, shifting his argument to the need for a renovated bunker under the old East Wing and hardened security for the White House.
“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!”
The White House quickly appealed the ruling.
Hot tips? Juicy scuttlebutt? Keen insights? Let me know. For sensitive information, use the encrypted methods here.
The New Propagandists
One of the most bizarre aspects of the city occupations in 2025 and early 2026 (and perhaps continuing under Markwayne Mullin? TBD) was the way in which the administration brought random social media celebrities inside its operations to produce propaganda. Through lawsuits and reporting, we’re learning more about how that all worked. Josh Kovensky takes a close look.
Interested in Conspiracy Theories and the Religious Right? Read On.
Longtime TPM readers know we always have been and always will be a small publication. We like to think we punch above our weight in terms of what we’re able to cover given our size. But we’re always looking for ways to do more.
That’s why we’re thrilled to announce the addition of Mike Rothschild and Sarah Posner as regular contributors to TPM. What that means is you’ll be seeing their bylines a lot more on our site, and hearing from them in our videos and Substack Live conversations.
Continue reading “Interested in Conspiracy Theories and the Religious Right? Read On.”Inside the Bizarre Feedback Loop Between DHS and MAGA Influencers
As DHS officers flooded into Minneapolis on an early December day, Mahamed Eydarus was out with his mom, shoveling snow.
In a subsequent declaration filed in a lawsuit, Eydarus would detail what unfolded over the next few minutes: An unmarked car suddenly drove up. A group of masked men wearing vests labeled “POLICE” and patches labeled “ICE” exited, and began questioning him and his mother: could they produce citizenship documents to prove that they were “not illegal”?
Continue reading “Inside the Bizarre Feedback Loop Between DHS and MAGA Influencers”