[Rush Lindell] Welcome back, everybody,
[Rush Lindell] to the Rush Lindell Show.
[Reagan] Good to be here.
[Reagan] Grab your coffee,
[Reagan] because the Supreme Court just handed us a doozy.
[Rush Lindell] A doozy? Try seismic.
[Rush Lindell] Birthright citizenship survives.
[Rush Lindell] 6-3 case closed.
[Reagan] 6-3,
[Reagan] or so everyone keeps saying.
[Rush Lindell] Ha, ha!
[Rush Lindell] Wait,
[Rush Lindell] or so?
[Rush Lindell] You've got that look on your face.
[Reagan] Let's just say the real math might surprise you.
[Reagan] We'll get into it.
[Rush Lindell] Oh,
[Rush Lindell] I love when you tease me.
[Rush Lindell] All right,
[Rush Lindell] that's segment one right there.
[Reagan] Then Kavanaugh drops a concurrence pointing at a nineteen fifty two statute instead of the Constitution.
[Rush Lindell] Sounds like a lifeline for Congress,
[Rush Lindell] until you look at the vote count.
[Reagan] Exactly the kind of thing will separate the rhetoric from the reality on.
[Rush Lindell] And Stephen Miller called this whole ruling a knife.
[Rush Lindell] Knife wound in the American Republic.
[Reagan] Bold words for a ruling that might not even touch the birth tourism problem he's worried about.
[Rush Lindell] Ha ha!
[Rush Lindell] Then the GOP tries to respond,
[Rush Lindell] and folks,
[Rush Lindell] it's chaos.
[Rush Lindell] Rand Paul's got one plan.
[Reagan] Mike Lee's crew wants a different amendment.
[Reagan] Tom Cotton's camp wants a statute instead.
[Reagan] Nobody's on the same page.
[Rush Lindell] Ha ha!
[Rush Lindell] We'll even run a little Theater of the Absurd with that one later in the show.
[Reagan] And we'll close by weighing this against everything else the court did this term.
[Reagan] this term.
[Rush Lindell] Let me tell you something.
[Rush Lindell] There's plenty here nobody's talking about yet.
[Reagan] So let's start with what actually happened Tuesday.
[Rush Lindell] But first, this hour is brought to you by Lear Capital,
[Rush Lindell] America's precious metals leader since 1997.
[Rush Lindell] Before we dive in, a quick reminder.
[Rush Lindell] We love hearing from you.
[Rush Lindell] If you have questions or topics you'd like us to cover,
[Rush Lindell] head to the link in the description and submit your question.
[Rush Lindell] We read every single one.
[Rush Lindell] Ladies and gentlemen,
[Rush Lindell] we have a decision.
[Rush Lindell] Six months of build-up and the Supreme Court just handed down the verdict on birthright citizenship.
[Rush Lindell] 6-3 they're calling it.
[Rush Lindell] Trump's executive order done,
[Rush Lindell] knocked out in the first round.
[Reagan] Hold on, Rush.
[Reagan] 6-3 is the headline,
[Reagan] but that's not the real number.
[Rush Lindell] Oh, here we go.
[Reagan] The order got struck down 6-3,
[Reagan] Sure,
[Reagan] but the actual constitutional question...
[Reagan] Is birthright citizenship guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment?
[Reagan] That was five four; Kavanaugh didn't join on those grounds.
[Rush Lindell] Wait,
[Rush Lindell] wait,
[Rush Lindell] so one justice basically fought a different fight?
[Reagan] Exactly.
[Reagan] Chief Justice Roberts wrote the majority opinion,
[Reagan] and according to SCOTUSblog,
[Reagan] he said kids born to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are citizens at birth,
[Reagan] tracing that straight back to the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment.
[Reagan] Amendment:
[Rush Lindell] Robert's going full history professor on us. I love it.
[Reagan] But Kavanaugh peeled off; he agreed the order had to go just on statutory grounds instead.
[Rush Lindell] So it's not a clean knockout,
[Rush Lindell] it's a split decision with an asterisk.
[Speaker 3] Right.
[Reagan] That's the headline nobody's reading past paragraph three.
[Rush Lindell] Of course they're not.
[Rush Lindell] Meanwhile,
[Rush Lindell] guess who's already back on his phone?
[Reagan] Let me guess.
[Rush Lindell] According to Fox News,
[Rush Lindell] Trump posted on Truth Social demanding Congress...
[Rush Lindell] Or start to day on legislation to kill
[Reagan] Hmm.
[Rush Lindell] birth right citizenship for good.
[Reagan] Which legally is a strange ask given five justices just said the Fourteenth Amendment itself protects it.
[Rush Lindell] Strange ask,
[Rush Lindell] sure,
[Rush Lindell] but when has that ever stopped him?
[Reagan] Fair point.
[Rush Lindell] So now we've got a President demanding a law that may not survive the court that just ruled and a Justice who might have handed Congress the exact blueprint to try.
[Reagan] Which raises the real question:
[Reagan] What did Kavanaugh actually write, and does it hold up?
[Rush Lindell] Building on that five four crack,
[Rush Lindell] let's talk about the guy who created it:
[Rush Lindell] Kavanaugh.
[Reagan] Right.
[Reagan] He agreed the order had to die,
[Reagan] just not for the reason everyone thinks.
[Rush Lindell] Oh this is where it gets fun.
[Rush Lindell] He didn't say the Fourteenth Amendment killed it.
[Reagan] He said a nineteen fifty two immigration statute did:
[Reagan] the Immigration and Nationality Act,
[Reagan] not the Constitution.
[Rush Lindell] So the amendment survives untouched,
[Rush Lindell] but Congress apparently left
[Rush Lindell] They left the side door open the whole time.
[Reagan] That's the argument; and according to Fox News,
[Reagan] Kavanaugh went further:
[Reagan] he basically wrote lawmakers a memo.
[Rush Lindell] A memo-I love it.
[Rush Lindell] Give me the quote.
[Reagan] TechTimes reported his concurrence said "Congress could amend that law or pass new legislation carving out exceptions to birthright citizenship.
[Rush Lindell] So a sitting justice just handed the GOP a permission slip:
[Rush Lindell] Sign here,
[Rush Lindell] restrict away.
[Reagan] That's one read,
[Reagan] but slow down,
[Reagan] because that permission slip has a landmine under it.
[Rush Lindell] Hold on,
[Rush Lindell] hold on-what land mine?
[Reagan] Five justices-the actual majority-just rejected the theory that the Fourteenth Amendment
[Rush Lindell] Wow.
[Reagan] lets you carve out exceptions at all.
[Rush Lindell] Right,
[Rush Lindell] the five four split we just walked through.
[Reagan] So if Congress passes a new statute restricting birthright citizenship,
[Reagan] that same five justice bloc is sitting right there waiting.
[Rush Lindell] So Kavanaugh's road map leads to another lawsuit.
[Reagan] Slate ran a piece calling it "an opening for Trump's side.
[Reagan] I'd hardly a win yet!
[Rush Lindell] An opening that just walks you back into the same brick wall.
[Reagan] That's the risk.
[Reagan] Congress could pass something tomorrow,
[Reagan] and it still has to survive the constitutional question,
[Reagan] not the statutory one.
[Rush Lindell] It's a trap dressed up as a gift,
[Rush Lindell] classic Kavanaugh.
[Reagan] Well,
[Reagan] I wouldn't call it a trap necessarily; he's inviting the political branches to act instead of the court dictating everything.
[Rush Lindell] Sure-inviting-sounds like handing someone a rope and calling it a gym membership.
[Rush Lindell] Worship.
[Reagan] That's one way to put it.
[Rush Lindell] And you know who's already treating this gift like Christmas morning?
[Rush Lindell] The White House.
[Reagan] Which is where this gets messy fast.
[Rush Lindell] Oh, it already is.
[Rush Lindell] Wait till you hear what Stephen Miller sang on Fox tonight.
[Rush Lindell] Building on that legal wall,
[Rush Lindell] Stephen Miller just went on Fox News and
[Reagan] Wow.
[Rush Lindell] called this ruling a deep knife wound in the heart of the American Republic.
[Reagan] A knife wound over an immigration statute?
[Rush Lindell] I'm calling him Doomsday Stephen from here on out.
[Rush Lindell] Man treats every SCOTUS loss like the fall of Rome.
[Reagan] It's not just him.
[Reagan] J.D. Vance told Laura Ingraham the fight is hanging by a thread,
[Reagan] and he's vowing to keep-
[Reagan] To keep pushing.
[Rush Lindell] Hanging by a thread!
[Rush Lindell] Reagan,
[Rush Lindell] five justices just told you the thread snapped!
[Reagan] Right.
[Reagan] And that's the contradiction nobody in the West Wing wants to sit with.
[Reagan] Trump wants Congress to pass
[Rush Lindell] Something quick,
[Rush Lindell] simple,
[Rush Lindell] done.
[Reagan] Meanwhile Miller and Vance are out there treating it like a five alarm civilizational emergency.
[Rush Lindell] You can't have both; either this is a quick legislative fix or it's the end of the Republic; pick one.
[Reagan] Doomsday Stephen picked end of the Republic,
[Reagan] obviously.
[Rush Lindell] There's substance buried in the theater,
[Rush Lindell] though.
[Rush Lindell] IBTimes reported administration officials are now looking hard at birth tourism-people flying in just to give birth on American soil.
[Reagan] Wait,
[Reagan] that's actually a real thing?
[Rush Lindell] It happens,
[Rush Lindell] but here's the wrinkle:
[Rush Lindell] federal law already criminalizes the visa fraud schemes Miller's describing; no new amendment required for that piece.
[Reagan] So the knife wound speech is partly solving a problem that's already illegal?
[Rush Lindell] Partly,
[Rush Lindell] yeah.
[Rush Lindell] Doesn't mean birth tourism isn't real; it means the rhetoric's outrunning what the ruling actually changed.
[Reagan] Doomsday Stephen,
[Reagan] ladies and gentlemen!
[Reagan] diagnosing a wound the DOJ already has a bandage for.
[Rush Lindell] And that gap between rhetoric and remedy,
[Rush Lindell] it's about to get bigger once you see what Senate Republicans are proposing next.
[Reagan] Forget the birth tourism angle a second,
[Reagan] Reagan; take me into the real fight,
[Reagan] Rand Paul.
[Rush Lindell] He filed his amendment back in April,
[Rush Lindell] before the ruling even landed.
[Rush Lindell] The Washington Examiner reported it caps automatic citizenship to kids of citizens,
[Rush Lindell] legal permanent residents or service members.
[Reagan] Surgical; I like it.
[Rush Lindell] And he's not waiting on Congress.
[Rush Lindell] WorldNetDaily reported this week he's taking his state legislature by state legislature,
[Rush Lindell] Kentucky first,
[Rush Lindell] and,
[Rush Lindell] in his words,
[Rush Lindell] he wants to:
[Rush Lindell] To "get it done one state at a time.
[Reagan] The article hive back door-nobody does that-that's legislative archaeology!
[Rush Lindell] Rare,
[Rush Lindell] but he's serious about it.
[Reagan] Fine,
[Reagan] camp one; who's writing with him?
[Rush Lindell] Mike Lee and Ron DeSantis.
[Rush Lindell] Lee posted minutes after the ruling that Congress needs an amendment.
[Rush Lindell] DeSantis called it a major defeat on Fox and said only an amendment or a future court flip fixes this.
[Reagan] And Johnson?
[Rush Lindell] Speaker Johnson told reporters birthright citizenship has been abused.
[Rush Lindell] used"
[Rush Lindell] Time reported that the same day,
[Rush Lindell] which tells you where his head's at.
[Reagan] So that's the Amendment Caucus; now hit me with Camp Three.
[Rush Lindell] This one doesn't touch the other two at all.
[Reagan] Go on.
[Rush Lindell] Tom Cotton's got his own bill,
[Rush Lindell] the Constitutional Citizenship Clarification Act.
[Rush Lindell] Fox News reported John Cornyn and Rick Scott are each pushing separate proposals targeting birth tourism.
[Reagan] Three senators,
[Reagan] three bills,
[Reagan] same problem.
[Rush Lindell] No Amendment in sight,
[Rush Lindell] just statute,
[Rush Lindell] statute,
[Rush Lindell] statute.
[Reagan] So let's tally it,
[Reagan] Reagan:
[Reagan] Trump wants one clean law today—no amendment; Miller and Vance want to keep swinging in court and on camera; Paul,
[Reagan] Lee and DeSantis want to rewrite the Constitution itself.
[Rush Lindell] And Cotton,
[Rush Lindell] Cornyn and Scott are off writing bills nobody asked them to write.
[Reagan] Four camps,
[Reagan] one party.
[Rush Lindell] And every camp thinks the other three are wasting the moment.
[Reagan] This isn't a party with a strategy; this is a party with a suggestion box.
[Reagan] box.
[Rush Lindell] That's not far off, honestly.
[Reagan] The ruling didn't just cost Republicans a case,
[Reagan] it showed they never agreed on the fix to begin with.
[Reagan] Building on that mess-picture the room,
[Reagan] windowless,
[Reagan] Capitol Hill,
[Reagan] every senator pitching a fix at once!
[Rush Lindell] Oh no!
[Reagan] Rand Paul's in the corner yelling 'Amendment!' Cotton slamming a statute on the table,
[Reagan] DeSantis is on speakerphone and nobody's picked up.
[Rush Lindell] Meanwhile,
[Rush Lindell] Trump's bumper sticker says "No Amendment Necessary" and Paul's literally got "Amend the Constitution"
[Rush Lindell] on his truck.
[Reagan] Two bumper stickers,
[Reagan] one party,
[Reagan] zero coordination.
[Rush Lindell] It's a band that can't agree on the key,
[Rush Lindell] let alone the song.
[Reagan] Somebody's playing statute blues-somebody's doing amendment jazz.
[Rush Lindell] And our knife wound guy is just screaming over both of them.
[Reagan] Stop; I can't.
[Rush Lindell] Funny bit,
[Rush Lindell] doesn't fix anything,
[Rush Lindell] though.
[Reagan] No,
[Reagan] but here's what gets me.
[Reagan] Nobody in that room has said out loud which plan actually wins.
[Rush Lindell] Because they can't.
[Reagan] Hmm.
[Rush Lindell] Trump wants a law by Friday; Paul's out here building a whole Constitutional coalition state by state.
[Reagan] One guy's sprinting,
[Reagan] the other guy's running a marathon,
[Reagan] and they're both wearing the same jersey.
[Rush Lindell] And that's the generous read; the ungenerous read is nobody's actually counted the votes-
[Reagan] Votes!
[Reagan] Right; that's the part that should scare everybody in that room.
[Rush Lindell] Because the real math behind any of these bumper stickers?
[Rush Lindell] It's brutal.
[Reagan] Yeah,
[Reagan] let's go there.
[Rush Lindell] Since we're doing math,
[Rush Lindell] let's do the real math.
[Rush Lindell] Article 5,
[Rush Lindell] two-thirds of both chambers,
[Rush Lindell] then 38 states.
[Rush Lindell] Three-fourths have to ratify.
[Speaker 3] That's it?
[Speaker 3] Easy.
[Rush Lindell] The last time that happened was 1992.
[Rush Lindell] Twenty-seventh Amendment.
[Rush Lindell] Congressional pay raises.
[Speaker 3] That's not exactly the Birthright Citizenship fight.
[Rush Lindell] No, and Congress hasn't cleared that bar for anything this size?
[Rush Lindell] Since
[Speaker 3] Fine,
[Speaker 3] forget the Amendment-what about Cotton and Cornyn and statute?
[Rush Lindell] Same Wall.
[Rush Lindell] A new statute still lands in front of the same five-justice block that just struck the order down.
[Speaker 3] So Kavanaugh's invitation to legislate was basically a locked door with a welcome mat.
[Rush Lindell] The ACLU's Cody Wofsy said this week he doesn't expect a
[Reagan] Building on that math,
[Reagan] let's zoom out:
[Reagan] this is Trump's third gut punch from this court in one term.
[Rush Lindell] Right.
[Rush Lindell] As SCOTUSblog's own Term Wrap called it out,
[Rush Lindell] tariffs struck down,
[Rush Lindell] the Lisa Cook firing blocked,
[Rush Lindell] and now birthright citizenship.
[Reagan] Three swings,
[Reagan] three misses-the nickname machine's getting a workout this year.
[Rush Lindell] But none of those losses actually settled anything.
[Rush Lindell] This one just kicked the ball into a Congress that can't agree on the yard.
[Rush Lindell] On the yard line.
[Speaker 3] Rand Paul's got his amendment,
[Speaker 3] Cotton's got his bill,
[Speaker 3] Nobody's got sixty votes.
[Rush Lindell] And now it's a mid term issue instead of a courtroom issue.
[Speaker 3] So here's my verdict:
[Speaker 3] the court didn't end this fight,
[Speaker 3] it just moved the ring.
[Rush Lindell] That's fair.
[Rush Lindell] The Constitution held,
[Rush Lindell] the politics didn't.
[Speaker 3] Politics never does.
[Rush Lindell] We'll see who actually shows up to vote on it.
[Reagan] So that's the hour!
[Reagan] SCOTUS slaps down the Birthright order,
[Reagan] Kavanaugh hands Congress a permission slip and the GOP immediately starts fighting itself over how to use it.
[Rush Lindell] Rand Paul wants an Amendment.
[Rush Lindell] Cotton wants a statute.
[Rush Lindell] Nobody's got the votes for either.
[Reagan] Meanwhile,
[Reagan] Stephen Miller's out there talking knife wounds again.
[Rush Lindell] The real story isn't
[Rush Lindell] But the ruling,
[Rush Lindell] it's that the fight just moved to a Congress that can't agree on lunch.
[Reagan] The Court didn't end this fight,
[Reagan] folks.
[Reagan] It just handed it somewhere messier.
[Rush Lindell] And that's worth watching heading into the midterms.
[Reagan] If you liked this hour,
[Reagan] subscribe,
[Reagan] leave us five stars, tell a friend who needs to hear it.
[Rush Lindell] New episodes every weekday.
[Reagan] Yeah, I'm Rush.
[Rush Lindell] I'm Reagan.
[Reagan] We'll see you tomorrow.