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[Rush Lindell] So here's what's going on right now,

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[Rush Lindell] and I want you to feel the weight of this.

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[Rush Lindell] The Supreme Court is in the final stretch of its term,

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[Rush Lindell] 22 cases pending,

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[Rush Lindell] clock ticking,

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[Rush Lindell] and the question sitting right at the top of the pile is who gets to be an American.

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[Reagan] Wow.

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[Rush Lindell] That's not a metaphor.

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[Rush Lindell] That is literally what's on the docket.

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[Speaker 3] And U.S.

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[Speaker 3] news laid it out this week: birthright citizenship,

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[Speaker 3] mail-in ballots,

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[Speaker 3] independent agency firings, all of it dropping before July.

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[Speaker 3] The court already handed the administration a loss on the tariffs.

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[Speaker 3] What's coming next is a different animal entirely.

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[Rush Lindell] Different animal is right.

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[Rush Lindell] Trump v. Barbara,

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[Rush Lindell] that's the birthright citizenship case,

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[Rush Lindell] is the one I want people locked in on.

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[Rush Lindell] Day one of the President's second term,

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[Rush Lindell] the President signed an executive order,

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[Rush Lindell] lower courts blocked it,

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[Rush Lindell] now nine justices are going to decide whether a hundred fifty eight years of constitutional practice survives.

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[Speaker 3] And the legal theory the Administration is running is genuinely contested.

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[Speaker 3] SCOTUSblog has been tracking the argument around what domicile means under the Fourteenth Amendment.

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[Speaker 3] It's not as settled as the headlines suggest.

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[Rush Lindell] Nothing is ever as settled as the headlines suggest—that's why we're here.

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[Speaker 3] Fair.

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[Rush Lindell] And then—wait for it!—there's the denaturalization drive running parallel to all this—we're talkin'

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[Rush Lindell] quota systems,

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[Rush Lindell] field offices.

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[Rush Lindell] It's numbers that make your head spin when you put 'em next to the historical average.

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[Speaker 3] That's the part that deserves real scrutiny.

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[Speaker 3] Quotas and individualized legal process are not the same thing.

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[Rush Lindell] Not even close.

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[Rush Lindell] So SCOTUS preview,

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[Rush Lindell] birthright citizenship,

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[Rush Lindell] denaturalization and what it all means.

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[Rush Lindell] I've got the legal precision and the outrage.

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[Rush Lindell] Let's see which one wins today.

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[Speaker 3] I'll take that bet.

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[Speaker 3] First up, the Court's packed June finish.

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[Rush Lindell] Before we get started,

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[Rush Lindell] a quick reminder.

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[Rush Lindell] We love hearing from you.

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[Rush Lindell] If you have questions or topics you'd like us to cover,

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[Rush Lindell] head to the link in the description and submit your question.

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[Rush Lindell] We read every single one.

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[Rush Lindell] Twenty-two cases,

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[Rush Lindell] that's what's left on the docket right now,

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[Rush Lindell] and the Court is aiming to wrap by early July,

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[Speaker 3] Wow.

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[Rush Lindell] Twenty-two,

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[Rush Lindell] and they didn't save the easy ones for last.

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[Speaker 3] No,

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[Speaker 3] they definitely did not.

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[Speaker 3] NPR had a good rundown on this.

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[Speaker 3] The cases still pending include birthright citizenship,

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[Speaker 3] presidential firing power,

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[Speaker 3] transgender athlete bans,

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[Speaker 3] mail ballot deadlines,

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[Speaker 3] the heavyweights.

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[Rush Lindell] And keep in mind, this term already delivered a blockbuster.

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[Rush Lindell] SCOTUSblog reported the court struck down Trump's tariffs back in February,

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[Rush Lindell] so these remaining opinions land on a court that has already handed the president one major loss.

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[Speaker 3] Which is exactly why the political temperature going into these rulings is as high as it's going to get.

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[Speaker 3] The administration knows what's at stake.

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[Rush Lindell] They do.

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[Rush Lindell] Trump literally showed up to oral arguments himself,

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[Rush Lindell] first sitting president to do that.

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[Rush Lindell] He sat there and watched his solicitor general argue the

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[Speaker 4] president's case.

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[Rush Lindell] argue the birthright citizenship case.

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[Rush Lindell] That's not a normal thing.

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[Speaker 3] Look,

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[Speaker 3] I get why people read that as a show of force, but attending doesn't change the legal math,

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[Speaker 3] and right now the legal math is not great for the administration on that one.

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[Rush Lindell] You know what nobody wants to say?

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[Rush Lindell] Five justices, maybe seven,

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[Rush Lindell] looked skeptical of the executive order at oral argument.

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[Rush Lindell] That's a significant number.

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[Speaker 3] That's what SCOTUSblog reported,

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[Speaker 3] yeah.

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[Speaker 3] At least five,

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[Speaker 3] possibly more.

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[Speaker 3] And every lower court that examined this order found it likely violates the Fourteenth Amendment,

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[Speaker 3] every single one.

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[Rush Lindell] So we've got birthright citizenship,

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[Rush Lindell] we've got presidential firing power in Trump versus Slaughter,

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[Rush Lindell] we've got the transgender athlete cases,

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[Rush Lindell] Little versus Hecox and West Virginia versus BPJ,

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[Rush Lindell] and we've got mail ballot deadlines in Watson versus the RNC.

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[Rush Lindell] Four cases,

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[Rush Lindell] four very different fights.

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[Rush Lindell] But they're all

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[Speaker 3] Uh

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[Rush Lindell] asking

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[Speaker 3] -huh.

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[Rush Lindell] the same basic question underneath:

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[Speaker 3] Which is, how far does executive authority reach,

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[Speaker 3] and who does the Constitution actually protect?

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[Rush Lindell] Or who counts as American?

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[Rush Lindell] That's the one that sits at the bottom of all of it.

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[Rush Lindell] And birthright citizenship is where that question lives.

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[Speaker 3] So what does the administration's actual legal argument look like? Because it's not nothing.

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[Rush Lindell] So,

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[Rush Lindell] Trump's day one executive order,

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[Rush Lindell] the one that says if your parents are here illegally or on a temporary visa,

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[Rush Lindell] you don't get birthright citizenship,

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[Rush Lindell] every single lower court that looked at it said the same thing: almost certainly unconstitutional.

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[Speaker 3] And now the Supreme Court has to actually answer the question the 14th Amendment poses.

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[Speaker 3] The Citizenship Clause is 28 words,

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[Speaker 3] all persons born or naturalized in the United States.

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[Speaker 3] It's and subject to the jurisdiction thereof; that's the ball game.

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[Rush Lindell] And the Administration's whole theory hangs on one word that isn't even in those twenty-eight words—domicile.

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[Speaker 3] Right.

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[Speaker 3] Solicitor General Sauer argued at the April first oral argument that the citizenship clause presupposes lawful domicile,

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[Speaker 3] not just physical birth on U.S. soil.

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[Speaker 3] The word jurisdiction implies domicile; that's the move.

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[Rush Lindell] A word that isn't in the amendment implying a concept that rewrites one hundred twenty-eight years of settled law—bold.

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[Speaker 3] The battlefield is Wong Kim Ark,

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[Speaker 3] the eighteen ninety eight

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[Speaker 4] U.S. Supreme Court decision.

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[Speaker 3] In the Eighth case,

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[Speaker 3] both sides claim it.

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[Speaker 3] The Library of Congress Research Service laid this out clearly:

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[Speaker 3] the Administration says domicile was central to that ruling because the Court mentioned it twenty times; challengers say it was just a background fact nobody contested; Wong's parents had lived in San Francisco for twenty years; it wasn't the holding.

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[Rush Lindell] And Justice Barrett basically asked,

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[Rush Lindell] How do you even adjudicate domicile at the moment of birth?

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[Rush Lindell] You'd have

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[Speaker 3] Yeah.

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[Rush Lindell] newborns in legal limbo while courts figure out whether Mom

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[Speaker 4] and Dad were married or not.

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[Rush Lindell] Their mom intended to stay permanently.

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[Speaker 3] SCOTUSblog covered the April arguments closely,

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[Speaker 3] and their read was an icy reception for the domicile theory,

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[Speaker 3] several justices skeptical,

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[Speaker 3] Gorsuch,

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[Speaker 3] Kavanaugh,

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[Speaker 3] Roberts all pushing back.

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[Rush Lindell] Now,

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[Rush Lindell] uphill climb for the administration,

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[Rush Lindell] I'll grant that.

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[Rush Lindell] But here's what nobody's saying out loud:

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[Rush Lindell] a narrow ruling could move the goalposts without being a headline win for Trump.

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[Rush Lindell] The Court could define domicile in a way that

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[Rush Lindell] Either doesn't hand him this case and still plant the seed.

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[Speaker 3] An estimated one hundred fifty thousand children a year are affected by that executive order.

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[Speaker 3] That's not abstract,

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[Speaker 3] that's real administrative machinery waiting on nine

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[Speaker 4] people.

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[Rush Lindell] Invokes

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[Reagan] And if SCOTUS decides who gets born American,

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[Reagan] the next question is who gets to stay American after earning it the legal way,

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[Reagan] which,

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[Reagan] Reagan,

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[Reagan] is exactly where we're going.

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[Reagan] Now flip that on its head.

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[Reagan] Who gets to stay American?

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[Reagan] You know what nobody wants to say out loud?

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[Reagan] The administration quietly ordered USCIS field offices to supply DOJ with 100 to 200 denaturalization cases per month.

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[Speaker 3] Per month!

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[Reagan] The New York Times first reported the internal guidance,

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[Reagan] and for context,

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[Reagan] from 1990 to 2017...

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[Reagan] The historical average was roughly eleven cases per year-eleven a year!

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[Speaker 5] So the quota alone,

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[Speaker 5] if met,

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[Speaker 5] would exceed the entire historical annual average by more than a hundredfold.

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[Reagan] Right; and NPR reported that on May eighth DOJ filed civil denaturalization complaints on twelve individuals in a single day.

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[Reagan] Historically,

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[Reagan] that's a full year's work.

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[Speaker 5] Wow.

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[Speaker 6] Wow.

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[Reagan] In one day!

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[Speaker 5] Look,

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[Speaker 5] the steel man here is real.

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[Speaker 5] Fraud happens.

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[Speaker 5] People do lie on naturalization applications.

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[Speaker 5] Denaturalization is a legitimate legal tool.

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[Speaker 5] It requires a federal judge and clear,

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[Speaker 5] convincing,

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[Speaker 5] unequivocal evidence.

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[Speaker 5] The law hasn't changed.

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[Reagan] Sure,

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[Reagan] but a former USCIS official named Sarah Pierce told the Times requiring monthly quotas ten times higher than the

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[Reagan] Then the total annual number turns a serious tool into a blunt instrument.

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[Speaker 5] And that's where I push back on the mechanism.

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[Speaker 5] When you set a numerical quota,

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[Speaker 5] you're no longer asking,

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[Speaker 5] did this person commit fraud?

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[Speaker 5] You're asking, do we have enough cases this month?

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[Speaker 5] Those are structurally different questions.

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[Reagan] That's the tale.

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[Reagan] NPR reviewed thirty four publicly announced cases through late May.

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[Reagan] A Boston College law professor said they're within normal legal parameters.

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[Reagan] legal parameters so far,

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[Reagan] but so far is doing a lot in that sentence.

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[Speaker 5] The pressure to hit a number is the problem; it creates incentives to lower the threshold,

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[Speaker 5] assign cases to generalist prosecutors instead of specialists,

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[Speaker 5] and push borderline situations through.

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[Reagan] Twenty-six million naturalized citizens in this country.

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[Reagan] The quota math says the Administration is prepared to process a chunk of them like a production line.

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[Reagan] That's the story,

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[Reagan] and it connects directly to where we're headed next because SCOTUS is drawing the left edge of citizenship while D.O.J.

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[Reagan] pushes on the right edge.

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[Reagan] Same frame,

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[Reagan] two hands.

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[Reagan] So now you have both tracks in front of you,

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[Reagan] SCOTUS rewriting who gets citizenship at birth,

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[Reagan] DOJ revoking it after the fact,

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[Reagan] same administration,

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[Reagan] same direction,

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[Reagan] nobody in the press is connecting the dots.

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[Speaker 5] I'll give you the frame,

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[Speaker 5] but I want to add some precision because the legal machinery is genuinely different.

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[Reagan] Go ahead.

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[Speaker 5] The Birthright case lives in the 14th Amendment,

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[Speaker 5] constitutional territory.

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[Speaker 4] three

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[Speaker 5] Denaturalization runs through federal statute and DOJ enforcement discretion.

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[Speaker 5] Different constitutional anchors,

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[Reagan] Mm-hmm.

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[Speaker 5] different burdens of proof.

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[Speaker 5] To win denaturalization,

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[Speaker 5] the government has to prove fraud by clear and convincing evidence; to reshape birthright citizenship,

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[Speaker 5] they just need five votes.

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[Reagan] Right—one costs them nothing but a brief; the other costs somebody their passport.

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[Speaker 5] Exactly.

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[Speaker 5] So rhetorically,

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[Speaker 5] yes,

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[Speaker 5] same frame.

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[Speaker 5] Legally two very different fights.

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[Reagan] And that's where SCOTUSblog flags something worth sitting with:

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[Reagan] both tracks are the Administration asserting expanded power to define who is and isn't American.

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[Reagan] The delivery mechanism differs; the direction

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[Speaker 5] Right.

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[Reagan] doesn't.

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[Speaker 5] That's a fair

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[Speaker 7] Wow!

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[Speaker 5] read.

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[Speaker 7] 

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[Reagan] The press covers this as two separate beats; the immigration reporter and the courts reporter never talk to each other.

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[Reagan] other,

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[Reagan] but you're watching one coherent story of the second Trump term,

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[Reagan] and it's hiding in plain sight.

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[Speaker 5] Hiding because nobody filed a joint brief connecting them.

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[Reagan] That's the work somebody should have done.

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[Reagan] Now, there's more on the SCOTUS docket independent agencies,

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[Reagan] mail ballots,

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[Reagan] transgender athletes,

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[Reagan] the rest of the card is still on the table.

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[Reagan] All right, let's run the rest of the scorecard fast-three cases,

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[Reagan] big stakes,

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[Reagan] small window before the rulings drop.

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[Speaker 5] Starting with Trump versus Slaughter,

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[Speaker 5] the President's power to fire heads of independent agencies.

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[Reagan] Six conservative justices already let Trump boot the FTC Commissioners while the case was still live.

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[Reagan] Chief Justice Roberts called Humphrey's Executor-that's the ninety year old precedent protecting agency independence-a dry husk.

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[Speaker 5] Wrap.

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[Speaker 8] Well!

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[Reagan] That's not a man who's about to uphold it.

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[Speaker 5] The court seems likely to side with Trump broadly:

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[Speaker 5] the one carve out analysts are watching:

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[Speaker 5] the Federal Reserve.

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[Speaker 5] Kavanaugh's been signaling the Fed is different and the court has already said as much in interim rulings.

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[Reagan] Right,

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[Reagan] because if the president can fire the Fed chair on a Tuesday,

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[Reagan] the markets notice by Wednesday,

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[Reagan] so they'll probably save one hostage.

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[Speaker 5] One very important hostage.

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[Reagan] Moving on.

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[Reagan] West Virginia versus BPJ.

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[Reagan] A. Transgender Athlete Bans Oral arguments in January and SCOTUSblog reported the court appeared likely to uphold the bans. Twenty-seven states have these laws already on the books.

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[Speaker 5] The legal stakes go beyond the scoreboard.

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[Speaker 5] The challengers are arguing Title IX and the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

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[Speaker 5] The open question after arguments was whether the court writes a narrow ruling or something that touches the broader Bostock framework on gender identity.

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[Reagan] How we got to a constitutional showdown over girls'

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[Reagan] middle school cross country is a story I will tell my grandchildren.

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[Speaker 5] The legal path here matters; a broad ruling could reach well past sports.

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[Reagan] NOTED.

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[Reagan] Last one,

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[Reagan] Watson versus RNC,

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[Reagan] mail ballots.

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[Reagan] Fifteen states,

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[Reagan] including DC,

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[Reagan] let ballots arrive after election day if postmarked in time.

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[Reagan] The conservative majority looked skeptical at argument.

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[Reagan] Justice Alito basically said,

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[Reagan] quote,

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[Reagan] we don't have election day anymore.

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[Speaker 5] A ruling against those grace periods hits before November's midterms, states would have to rewrite election law on a short clock.

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[Reagan] Three cases,

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[Reagan] one term,

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[Reagan] and that's before we talk about what happens when all these land in the same week, because they might,

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[Reagan] and that scenario,

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[Reagan] that's where things get genuinely wild.

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[Reagan] All right, so let's play it out.

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[Reagan] Two scenarios.

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[Reagan] Picture this,

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[Reagan] same

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[Rush Lindell] In week,

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[Rush Lindell] birthright citizenship,

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[Rush Lindell] independent agencies,

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[Rush Lindell] and mail ballots, all three go the administration's way.

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[Reagan] Wow.

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[Rush Lindell] What does cable news look like that night?

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[Reagan] Oh, I can script it already.

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[Rush Lindell] Of course you can!

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[Rush Lindell] Every panel show dusts off the same chyron.

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[Rush Lindell] I'll give it a nickname:

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[Rush Lindell] call it Democracy Mourning Week.

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[Rush Lindell] Six guests,

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[Rush Lindell] all speechless,

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[Rush Lindell] all somehow talking at once.

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[Reagan] Accurate.

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[Reagan] Though I will say,

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[Reagan] a full sweep actually gives the left a clean villain.

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[Reagan] Every loss is one story.

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[Rush Lindell] Now the split-that's where it gets different-the court hands Trump a loss on birthright citizenship,

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[Rush Lindell] but delivers on agencies and trans athletes-you know what that means?

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[Reagan] The court looks balanced,

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[Reagan] and that legitimizes everything else they ruled.

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[Rush Lindell] Deb Pam,

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[Rush Lindell] exactly-the media runs 'Court Checks Trump'

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[Rush Lindell] as the headline and, buried in paragraph nine-oh,

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[Rush Lindell] by the way, the president can now fire

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[Speaker 4] Mueller.

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[Rush Lindell] Now fire any commissioner once,

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[Rush Lindell] nobody reads paragraph nine.

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[Reagan] That's the structural danger; a split outcome lets the rulings that expand executive power land quietly,

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[Reagan] which from a legal standpoint may matter more long term than birthright citizenship.

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[Rush Lindell] The Hill reported just this week:

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[Rush Lindell] "Conservative justices have already signaled they want to overturn Humphreys Executor."

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[Reagan] Right.

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[Rush Lindell] They telegraphed that months ago.

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[Rush Lindell] If that falls the same week birthright gets blocked...

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[Rush Lindell] The press will only cover the loss.

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[Reagan] And the denaturalization machinery is already running regardless.

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[Reagan] NPR reported it's proving harder than the rhetoric suggests,

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[Reagan] but the Quota structure is already in motion.

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[Reagan] The Court doesn't flip that off.

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[Rush Lindell] Right—which is why the scenario that should worry people most isn't a sweep; it's a split that lets two or three landmark shifts walk out the door while everyone's watching the one that

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[Rush Lindell] That didn't.

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[Reagan] As SCOTUSblog will have same day plain language reads when these drop,

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[Reagan] that's your move,

347
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[Reagan] not waiting for cable news to frame it for you.

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[Rush Lindell] Don't outsource your understanding to people whose job is to perform outrage.

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[Rush Lindell] Read the actual ruling.

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[Rush Lindell] So what do you do with all of this?

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[Rush Lindell] Here's my answer,

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[Rush Lindell] and I'm going to give it to you straight.

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[Reagan] Go ahead.

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[Rush Lindell] Bookmark SCOTUSblog right now, today.

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[Rush Lindell] The Court drops rulings with zero advanced warning. U.S. News confirmed that,

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[Rush Lindell] and SCOTUSblog is the only place where you'll get plain English analysis the same morning the opinion lands.

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[Rush Lindell] Cable news frames it for you.

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[Rush Lindell] SCOTUSblog gives you the actual ruling.

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[Reagan] That distinction matters because how a ruling gets framed in the.

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[Reagan] in the first hour is how most people carry it forever.

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[Speaker 3] Exactly right.

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[Speaker 3] And the second thing, and this one's more uncomfortable,

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[Speaker 3] the denaturalization push is not a future concern.

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[Speaker 3] NPR reported it.

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[Speaker 3] Newsweek confirmed it. The drive is already underway.

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[Reagan] Yeah,

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[Speaker 3] Cases are being filed right now.

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[Speaker 3] You don't get to wait for the SCOTUS decision to decide how you feel about this.

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[Reagan] And the legal guardrails are the actual story.

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[Reagan] Whether due process holds on individual denaturalization cases.

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[Reagan] In cases,

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[Reagan] that's what tells you if the system is working or not,

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[Reagan] not the political noise around it.

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[Speaker 3] You know what nobody wants to say?

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[Speaker 3] The question of who gets to be American,

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[Speaker 3] who counts,

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00:17:14,890 --> 00:17:16,140
[Speaker 3] who can be uncounted,

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00:17:16,390 --> 00:17:19,390
[Speaker 3] that is the foundational question of this political moment,

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[Speaker 3] full stop.

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[Reagan] And listeners who actually understand these cases-the legal tracks,

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[Reagan] the Different burdens of proof,

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[Reagan] what the Court can and can't do-they're in a position to judge that for themselves.

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[Reagan] That's the point of all this.

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[Speaker 3] The people Rewriting the answer to that question are counting on you to not connect the dots.

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[Speaker 3] They're counting on the headlines to drown out the actual mechanism.

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[Speaker 3] So don't let them.

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[Reagan] Know the cases. Watch the rulings when they drop.

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[Speaker 3] And don't wait for a Cable anchor to tell you what to think about it.

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[Speaker 3] About three days later.

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[Reagan] Yeah,

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[Reagan] that ship sails without you.

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[Speaker 3] We've laid out the whole architecture today.

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[Speaker 3] The cases are live,

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[Speaker 3] the Quota is running,

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[Speaker 3] and the rulings are coming.

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[Speaker 3] You've got everything you need to follow this in real time.

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[Speaker 3] All right,

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[Speaker 3] here's where we land:

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[Speaker 3] The Supreme Court's got Twenty-two cases to close,

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[Speaker 3] a July deadline and not one of them is easy.

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[Reagan] And the Birthright Citizenship Fight,

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00:18:18,356 --> 00:18:19,506
[Reagan] the Domicile Theory,

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[Reagan] the Wong Kim Ark battlefield-that's the one that defines everything downstream.

404
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[Speaker 3] A word not in the Amendment,

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[Speaker 3] rewriting one hundred twenty eight years of settled law.

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[Speaker 3] Bold is one word.

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[Reagan] That's one word.

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[Speaker 3] And the denaturalization quota running in parallel-that's the squeeze; two arms,

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00:18:39,984 --> 00:18:40,284
[Speaker 3] same

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[Speaker 5] Right.

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[Speaker 3] policy.

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[Reagan] Legally distinct,

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[Reagan] but the direction is clear.

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[Speaker 3] Bottom line:

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[Speaker 3] Who counts as American is the defining question of this political moment.

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[Speaker 3] Bookmark SCOTUSblog.

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[Speaker 3] Pay attention.

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[Reagan] The guardrails are the story.

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[Reagan] An informed listener can judge them.

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[Speaker 3] That's why you're here.

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[Speaker 3] Subscribe,

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00:18:59,622 --> 00:19:00,972
[Speaker 3] leave us a five-star review,

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00:19:01,372 --> 00:19:03,072
[Speaker 3] tell someone who needs to hear this.

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[Speaker 3] New episodes every weekday.

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[Reagan] Thanks for listening.

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[Reagan] We'll see you tomorrow.