Thank you, Heather, for your history lesson on the 14th Amendment, and on Trump’s outrageous attempt yesterday…

To Thwart The Will Of The Court

The question before the Court:

Do our rights arise from our birth,

or are our parents the ultimate source

of our citizenship and worth?

It was thought that the question was settled,

that the Fourteenth Amendment was clear.

Not just the black descendants of slaves,

but anyone born here

is a citizen by right

of birth on America’s soil—

that the landmark case of Wong Kim Ark

had settled it once and for all.

But Trump by Executive Order

has tried to upend the law.

He says that embedded within it

is a long-missed fatal flaw—

that just because you were born here

doesn’t mean you can stay unless

at the time of your birth your parents were here,

and they had been duly assessed

as lawful and permanent entrants

into the United States.

If not, then you are a criminal

if you stay on this side of our gates.

When arguments were presented

Trump came before the Court

to look “His Justices” in the eye—

an unprecedented resort

to the power of a President

to sway a judicial result.

To their status and independence it was

the greatest possible insult.

Dale K. Nichols