Sidney Blumenthal

Stephen Miller’s reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision upholding birthright citizenship is used to illustrate his longstanding push to redefine American citizenship around racial and genetic criteria. The ruling rejects parallels to the Dred Scott decision, emphasizing constitutional protections against bloodline-based exclusion. Miller’s statements and record are contrasted with historical and contemporary evidence of immigrants’ major contributions to science, technology and American society. The article highlights the contradictions within Trump family history and immigration policies, underscoring how such policies would have threatened the Trumps themselves across generations. It concludes that Miller’s ideology is historically unsound and rooted in xenophobic assumptions.