There are political defeats that politicians absorb with clarity and there are political defeats that politicians absorb with arithmetic, and JD Vance has chosen arithmetic.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Tuesday that Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship is unconstitutional, with Chief Justice Roberts writing for the majority, joined by Justices Thomas, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson. Justice Kavanaugh concurred in the judgment separately. The final tally was six justices on one side and three on the other, which is the definition of 6-3.
According to Fox News, Vance appeared on “The Ingraham Angle” and said: “The fact that this case was a 5-4 decision effectively means that the concept of birthright citizenship is hanging by a thread.” He then said: “We have to keep fighting because we actually have an opportunity to reverse this decision.” The case was not a 5-4 decision. It was a 6-3 decision. Vance was the vice president during the case. The court published the vote count. The vote count is not in dispute.
Vance’s explanation for the arithmetic appears to involve Kavanaugh’s concurrence, which agreed with the outcome but on different grounds than the majority opinion. If Vance is counting Kavanaugh’s concurrence as a half-vote for the administration’s position, the math still does not produce 5-4. If he is suggesting the court’s reasoning was closer than the tally indicates, that is a different argument than calling it a 5-4 decision. He called it a 5-4 decision. The court produced a 6-3 vote.
Multiple Republican senators released constitutional amendment proposals within minutes of the ruling, including Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Eric Schmitt. Speaker Johnson said Congress is “considering” both a constitutional amendment and legislation, which together describe every possible legislative response and commit to none of them. The amendment would require two-thirds of both chambers and three-quarters of state legislatures, a threshold that the current Republican majority cannot reach.
The concept of birthright citizenship is, per the 14th Amendment, 158 years old. Per Vance, it is hanging by a thread. The thread has been in the Constitution since 1868.
When the vice president describes a 6-3 court loss as a 5-4 decision that means the concept is hanging by a thread, which number is he working from?
Sources
Fox News live: Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship against Trump challenge, sides with states on trans ban
Raw Story: JD Vance’s mocking joke to troops flops as he’s met with silence
