Biden put Ketanji Brown Jackson on the Supreme Court to protect the radical left's agenda.
She opened her mouth during the biggest immigration case in a generation and handed conservatives the most viral sound bite of the year.
What she said – from the bench of the highest court in the land – is something you have to read to believe.
How Jackson Used a Stolen Wallet to Redefine Birthright Citizenship
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in Trump v. Barbara – the biggest immigration case in a generation.
Trump's executive order ends birthright citizenship for children born to illegal aliens and foreign tourists on American soil.
Jackson was supposed to be grilling the Trump administration.
Instead, she handed conservatives the most viral sound bite of the year.
During arguments, she floated this logic: if a U.S. citizen visits Japan and steals a wallet, the Japanese government can arrest that person.
Therefore, Jackson reasoned, that tourist "owes allegiance" to Japan simply by being on Japanese soil.
She applied the same reasoning to illegal aliens and foreign tourists in America.
Her exact words: "even though I'm a temporary traveler, I'm just on vacation in Japan, I'm still locally owing allegiance in that sense."
Ron DeSantis responded immediately: "Oh, good grief, come on now."
Jonathan Turley – Fox News contributor and George Washington University law professor – called America's current birthright policy "perfectly insane" and said it represents "a great danger to this government and to this republic."
The 14th Amendment Was Never Meant to Cover Anchor Babies or Birth Tourism
Here's what every serious legal scholar already knows.
The 14th Amendment's citizenship clause was written in 1868 for one specific purpose – to give freed slaves and their children full citizenship after the Civil War.
The original 1866 Civil Rights Act, which inspired the amendment, used precise language: citizenship extended to those born in the United States "and not subject to any foreign power."
Criminals don't swear loyalty to a country by getting arrested in it.
Japanese law enforcement can detain a tourist who steals a wallet – that's jurisdiction.
It is not allegiance.
Those are completely different legal concepts, and any first-year law student knows it.
The Heritage Foundation has been making this point for years: the phrase "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" in the 14th Amendment refers to political allegiance – not whether you can be arrested if you rob someone.
Trump Was Right to Show Up
Trump made history Wednesday – the first sitting president ever to attend Supreme Court oral arguments.
He watched for 75 minutes, then left and posted on Truth Social: "We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow 'Birthright' Citizenship!"
That's not far off.
The Center for Immigration Studies estimates roughly a quarter million anchor babies are born annually to illegal aliens and foreign tourists on American soil.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer put it directly to the justices: "We're in a new world now, as Justice Alito pointed out, to where 8 billion people are one plane ride away from having a child who's a U.S. citizen."
The Supreme Court has never explicitly ruled on whether the 14th Amendment covers illegal aliens and foreign tourists.
Every lower court ruling blocking Trump's order has relied on the 1898 Wong Kim Ark case – a ruling about the children of legal, permanent Chinese residents, not illegal aliens or vacation visitors.
Even Turley noted the irony Wednesday: "What was really astonishing is that we might have nine originalists on the court – because the liberal justices started to channel Scalia and say we've got to stick with the original intent here."
They argue for original intent when it suits them.
They forget original intent existed when it comes to the Second Amendment.
Jackson's wallet analogy did not sink Trump's case – the conservative justices still pressed hard on the administration's position.
But it exposed exactly how far the left will stretch logic to keep the anchor baby loophole open – and why tens of millions of Americans voted to close it.
Sources:
- John Binder, "Justice Jackson Suggests Foreign Tourists Qualify for Birthright Citizenship Because They Have 'Local Allegiance' to U.S. While on Vacation," Breitbart, April 1, 2026.
- "Justice Jackson Sparks Online Uproar After Linking Birthright Citizenship to Stealing a Wallet in Japan," Fox News, April 2, 2026.
- "FNC's Turley: 'Hilarious' to Watch Lefty Justices Sound Like Scalia on Birthright Citizenship," Breitbart, April 1, 2026.
- "Jonathan Turley Highlights 'Hilarious Aspect' of How Liberal Justices View Birthright Citizenship," The Daily Wire, April 2, 2026.
- "SCOTUS Grills Both Sides on Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order," Fox News, April 1, 2026.
- Hans von Spakovsky, "Birthright Citizenship: A Fundamental Misunderstanding of the 14th Amendment," The Heritage Foundation.
- Jason Richwine and Steven A. Camarota, "Births to Illegal Immigrants and Long-Term Temporary Visitors," Center for Immigration Studies, February 14, 2025.
