Indiana's Attorney General, Others Discuss Supreme Court Rulings
Indiana’s Attorney General, Others Weigh in On Supreme Court Rulings
- Court upheld laws banning transgender athletes from female sports teams, protecting women's sports.
- Court rejected ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, a fundamental American principle.
- Indiana officials have conflicting views, with AG opposing citizenship ruling but Congressman supporting it.
STATEWIDE–Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita says he agrees with the Supreme Court’s ruling on transgender athletes, but not so much on their decision regarding birthright citizenship.
On Tuesday, the high court cleared the way for states to impose restrictions on transgender student athletes, upholding laws in West Virginia and Idaho banning them from female sports teams.
“My team and I worked on this case with West Virginia and Idaho. We are pleased with the high court’s reasoning here. Every American should be highly concerned that the Supreme Court had to decide on a question of biological reality. This ruling will protect women for generations to come,” said Rokita.
The Supreme Court opted to reject President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring that children born to people who are in the United States illegally or temporarily not American citizens.
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights—to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land,’” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court, citing congressional debate over the amendment, “We keep that promise today.”
Rokita says the Supreme Court got this ruling “seriously wrong.”
“It’s decision will have damaging consequences. So that makes our work combating illegal immigration more important than ever. The Constitution is not a suicide pact requiring us to destroy ourselves. It doesn’t require the U.S. to recognize birthright citizenship for illegal aliens. When you allow illegal immigration, that’s what you’re doing. You’re killing off this country,” said Rokita.
Indiana Democratic Congressman Andre Carson sees it differently than Rokita.
“The Supreme Court just affirmed a fundamental principle of our country: if you are born in America, you are American. We are trying to create a more perfect union every day—where everyone is included,” Carson said on social media Tuesday.
Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith said shortly after the ruling that the issue before Court was never whether America should be compassionate, welcoming, or generous.
“The question was whether the authors of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution intended automatic citizenship for the children of those who entered the country unlawfully or who maintain allegiance to another sovereign nation. That question deserved an honest constitutional inquiry, not a reflexive appeal to a century of judicial drift. A nation that cannot define citizenship cannot preserve citizenship,” said Beckwith on social media.
