Speaker says court opinion on 14th Amendment likely will force Congress to act

Mr. Speaker said a recent court opinion interpreting the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause will likely force Congress to consider a constitutional amendment.

"I need to read the opinion, okay?" the Speaker said, adding that the ruling appears to reflect a "textualist originalist view." He said he was "very sympathetic" to plaintiffs who argued the provision has been "grossly abused," describing what he called "birth tourism" — people coming to the United States to give birth and then seeking public benefits — as part of the problem.

The Speaker framed the issue as primarily legal and political rather than immediately remedial. He said the likely fix would be to amend the Constitution, noting the high bar for such change: two-thirds approval in both chambers of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states. "As we all know, it's a big challenge to amend the Constitution," he said, adding that amendment has occurred 27 times in U.S. history.

The remark was a response to a reading of the opinion’s text that described the clause as making children born in the United States to parents "unlawfully or temporarily present" "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States and therefore citizens at birth. The Speaker said he was disappointed in that outcome and said Congress "will have to deal with it."

The comments did not set out any specific legislative proposal or timetable and the Speaker prefaced his remarks by saying he had not yet studied the full opinion. No formal motion or vote followed from the remarks recorded here; the discussion closed with the Speaker signaling that the issue will be the subject of further consideration.

The transcript records both the reading of the opinion text and the Speaker’s reaction; other participants asked for the Speaker’s response but did not propose a specific bill during the recorded exchange.