SCOTUS Indefinitely Revives the Dred Scott Decision

My new essay on Slate explains how the Supreme Court has just given Trump the go-ahead to indefinitely revive the Dred Scott decision. Here is the gist:

The Supreme Court Just Revived a Key Portion of Dred Scott

By Steven Lubet

June 27, 2025

For the first time in over a century, children will soon be born in the United States without the benefit of birthright citizenship, thanks to a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday. Although the six-justice majority denied making a decision on the merits, the impact of the ruling will indefinitely condemn many thousands of children to status that has not existed since the era of the court’s infamous Dred Scott opinion. 

The upshot is that Trump’s unprecedented decree can continue to strip citizenship from children whose parents—who by definition may be subject to deportation—lack the resources to file their own lawsuit.

Trump’s executive order would actually revive the logic of Dred Scott by creating a new class of outcasts, excluded from the political community solely by virtue of their parentage.

You can read the entire piece on Slate (with free registration).