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The Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s birthright citizenship order this week. This guarantees citizenship to every child born on U.S. soil, no matter how briefly or unlawfully the parents are here.

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• Illegal border-crossers, overstayed visas, birth tourists flying in from Beijing to deliver and fly home: All of it produces an American citizen.

In Trump v. Barbara, six separate opinions came out of nine justices reading the same text. It shows how contested and how dangerous this issue is. It also shows what the Bible prophesies as “broken judgment.”

• In his personal dissent, Justice Samuel Alito called the ruling “one of the most important decisions in the history of the court” and “a serious mistake.”

The bottom-line vote was 6–3: Five justices plus Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed Trump’s executive order had to fall. But only Roberts and Barrett sided with the three leftists—Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson—on the constitutional reasoning behind it.

• Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, traced the rule to English common law, arguing the Fourteenth Amendment simply wrote that ancient rule into the Constitution. (Meanwhile, England doesn’t have birthright citizenship.)
• Kavanaugh disagreed; he voted to strike down Trump’s order because it broke a federal citizenship statute, not the Fourteenth Amendment. He argued that Congress could pass a law restricting birthright citizenship to illegals and still uphold the Fourteenth Amendment—it just hasn’t yet done so.

The dissents accused the majority of inventing history to get their ruling.

• Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Neil Gorsuch, called the majority’s account “not historically accurate,” fundamentally opposed to the founders’ rejection of English law.

The case should be clear-cut. The Fourteenth Amendment says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

• If you sneak into the country illegally and have a child, your new family is not and never has been, “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

The practical effect of the court’s ruling is a standing invitation. The Justice Department called it a national security threat. With executive action now blocked, nothing stops the birth-tourism industry from expanding, or illegal border crossings from continuing to produce citizens by default.

• The Department of Homeland Security has been chasing “maternity hotel” networks. One Texas facility alone is accused of delivering up to 20 babies a day to mostly Chinese national clients, marketing citizenship as a product for sale.

Moses warned that a disobedient nation would watch its “high and fenced walls” come down (Deuteronomy 28:52). That is a picture of broken defenses, including those preventing illegal immigration.

• This is already happening on a nation-threatening scale—and the nation’s highest court just OK’d a dangerous part of that.
• Alito wrote, “The court’s interpretation preserves a powerful incentive to enter or remain in this country illegally. … In my judgment, the court has made a mistake that will seriously affect the country’s future.”

Isaiah described another curse: “judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter” (Isaiah 59:14).

• A nation that cannot secure its own borders, and whose highest court cannot render proper judgment on who belongs within them, is living under these curses spelled out thousands of years ago.

That curse lifts the moment a nation returns to God’s law. Obedience to God is what rebuilds broken walls and restores sound judgment.

One in Three Democrats Likes Democratic Socialists

As the U.S. approaches its 250th anniversary this week, more Democrats are turning against the nation’s founding ideals. A Pew Research Center survey published yesterday asked more than 8,000 U.S. adults how they feel about “democratic socialist” leaders.

• 32 percent of Democrats said they liked democratic socialists.
• Only 11 percent said they disliked socialists.
• 56 percent expressed neither like nor dislike.

Only 3 percent of Republicans said they liked democratic socialist candidates.

This highlights a deep political divide between the Democratic and Republican parties. This has some old-school Democrats, such as Bill Maher, concerned that far-left candidates could hurt their party’s chances in the upcoming midterm elections this November.

The Democratic Socialists of America has endorsed dozens of radical political candidates across the nation in an attempt to push the Democratic Party further left.

• Rather than run its own candidates for office, the dsa is endorsing Democrats who believe the federal government should own the means of production, the fundamental belief of communism.
• The DSA rejects social democracy, which says the government should regulate the free market, in favor of democratic socialism, which says the government should replace the free market.
• It tries to distance itself from the Communist label by emphasizing that democratic socialist leaders are elected, but it still embraces core Marxist ideas, including the abolition of private property in favor of collective ownership.

Such views violate God’s economic laws. The Eighth Commandment (“Thou shalt not steal,” Exodus 20:15) and the Tenth Commandment (“Thou shalt not covet,” verse 17) clearly affirm property rights.

America’s founders drew on this biblical heritage and rejected socialism and all systems that undermine property rights.

• In A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, John Adams wrote, “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If ‘Thou shalt not covet,’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal,’ were not commandments of heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.”

This is one example showing how today’s leftists are fundamentally betraying the principles on which America was founded. Learn more in our article “Is the U.S. Constitution Based on the Bible?”

Conservative Group Defies Pope

An ultra-conservative Catholic group ordained four bishops yesterday in defiance of direct instructions from Pope Leo xiv.

The Society of Saint Pius X (sspx) was founded as a priestly group within the Catholic Church in the 1970s, which disagreed with the modernizing reforms made at the Second Vatican Council.

• They celebrate Mass in Latin, not the vernacular.
• They oppose outreaches to other Christian denominations and other religions.
• They disagree with the steps toward endorsing the idea of religious freedom in Vatican ii and instead believe that governments should force Catholicism on their people.
• Major leaders in the group have denied the Holocaust, endorsed anti-Semitic propaganda such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and spread blood-libels—accusing Jews of using Christian blood in their rituals.

The sspx was excommunicated in 1988, when they consecrated new bishops without the pope’s approval. In 2009, Pope Benedict lifted the excommunication and worked to close the rift. The lifting sparked a major row with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opposed the group because of the anti-Semitism of some of its leaders.

Yesterday, the society ordained four more bishops. Once again, the pope had specifically said not to. The group seems to be heading toward excommunication once again.

• They’re faced with the same dilemma as they were in 1988. If they have no living bishops, the society dies out. Their current bishops are all old. Either they get excommunicated, or they gradually go extinct.

Today, around 600,000 people attend mass with the sspx. In a world where compromise and modernization are the norm, this arch-conservative group has considerable appeal. It looks more ancient and authentic—anchored in tradition instead of blown about by modern secular doctrine.

• But it also means some dangerous views and a headache for the Vatican, which itself is trying to appeal to those who want the authentic and the ancient.

What actually makes a group God’s true Church? Read our free booklet to find out.

Wildfires Scorch American West

The worst megadrought in 1,200 years is fueling wildfires across the Western United States. At least 79 wildfires are burning in 10 states, with thick smoke plumes stretching for hundreds of miles.

In Colorado and Utah, officials have declared emergencies after blazes grew rapidly over the weekend.

• Three firefighters in a helicopter crew trained to attack new fires died Saturday while battling a fire along the border.
• Utah fire officials say the Cottonwood Fire, which has scorched nearly 100,000 acres and destroyed about 150 buildings, may be the most destructive in the state’s history.
• A warm winter left little snow, and ongoing drought has turned grass, brush and trees into fuel.
• This year’s early fire activity is roughly double the 10-year average due to a 26-year-long megadrought afflicting about a dozen Western states.

A study published in the journal Science found the 19 years from 2000 to 2018 were the driest in the Southwestern U.S. since the late 1500s and the second-driest since a.d. 800. The study used tree-ring data to reconstruct summer soil moisture. This drought has only gotten worse since 2018.

• Previous megadroughts contributed to the falls of the Mayan, Cahokian and Aztec civilizations. These droughts were not caused by automobile or power plant emissions. Still, they may have been caused by immoral human activity, as the Mayans, Cahokians, and Aztecs were involved in many pagan rituals, such as human sacrifice.

God told Abraham that He would drive the Canaanites out of the Promised Land because of their sins (Genesis 15:16). He told Moses that He would drive the Israelites out of the Promised Land if they followed the sins of the Canaanites (Leviticus 26:38-39). This proves God punishes wicked societies.

Herbert W. Armstrong proved in The United States and Britain in Prophecy that the U.S. and Britain descended from the ancient Israelite tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. Prophecies in Leviticus 26, Joel 1 and Amos 4 show that God will send drought on modern-day Israel if its people break their covenant with Him.

IN OTHER NEWS

Putin undeterred: Vladimir Putin has directed the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces to seize Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities said yesterday. The reiteration of Putin’s maximalist goals after months of stalled progress suggests that he is considering new strategies such as fully mobilizing Russia’s reserve forces, Belarussian involvement and even the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

German economics minister used AI? German Economics Minister Katherina Reiche possibly used artificial intelligence to write at least parts of her guest articles published by Handelsblatt and Frankfurter Allgemeine, Spiegel reported yesterday. A spokeswoman for Reiche did not deny the accusation.

Israel’s defense minister accused America of protecting Hezbollah on Monday. Israel Katz told reporters that America’s linking of the Lebanese conflict to its peace talks with Iran “saved Hezbollah from a terrible blow, perhaps even its collapse. … It was an American interest. They very much wanted to advance the possibility of negotiations with Iran.”