John Roberts handed American citizenship to the children of illegal aliens and Chinese birth tourists.
Now a recording from 2018 is going viral – and Rush Limbaugh explained exactly why this ruling was wrong.
What he said eight years ago has Roberts cornered – and there is no answer to it.
What Rush Said About the 14th Amendment That John Roberts Never Answered
Rush Limbaugh knew this fight was coming.
On October 30, 2018, he walked his audience through the 14th Amendment line by line – the same amendment John Roberts just used to gut Trump's executive order in Trump v. Barbara.
Rush zeroed in on the two phrases the birthright crowd always deletes: "naturalized" and "subject to the jurisdiction thereof."
His conclusion was airtight: "You are not naturalized and you are not subject to the US jurisdiction if you're here illegally. You cannot be. You're under some other country's jurisdiction."
Roberts never answered that. He couldn't. So he built his majority opinion around English common law instead.
"The birthright citizenship crowd," Rush told his audience in 2018, "wants to water down American culture and destroy Western civilization."
Roberts just gave them the win they needed.
Rush also cited the man who actually wrote the citizenship clause – Senator Jacob Howard of Michigan.
Howard said in 1866 that the 14th Amendment "will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, who are aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers."
That is the author of the clause explaining what it means. Roberts ignored him entirely.
How Trump v. Barbara Ignored the Case That Already Settled This
Roberts has made this choice before.
Fox News contributor Mike Davis said Roberts "again prioritized his personal perception over constitutional duty. His legacy is one of preserving his own reputation at the expense of our nation when political pressure mounted. Time and again he has flinched – on Obamacare, on election cases, on immigration – choosing the path of least resistance and maximum elite approval."
The 1884 case Elk v. Wilkins settles this. The Supreme Court ruled that Native Americans born on U.S. soil were not citizens under the 14th Amendment – because tribal allegiance meant they did not owe direct allegiance to the United States government.
Roberts didn't grapple with Elk v. Wilkins. He went around it.
Justice Samuel Alito called the majority decision "a serious mistake" in "one of the most important decisions in the history" of the Supreme Court.
Alito added that the ruling "preserves a powerful incentive to enter or remain in this country illegally."
Justice Clarence Thomas filed his own 91-page dissent, arguing the decision devalues citizenship as the framers of the 14th Amendment understood it.
Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch all dissented. Only Barrett joined Roberts' full constitutional theory.
Roberts and Barrett Just Made Birthright Citizenship a Constitutional Amendment Fight
Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts called the ruling "a tremendous betrayal of the republic" and said the majority "inflamed the all-out assault on our sovereignty and cheapened the sacred value of American citizenship."
Trump's response was immediate. He called the ruling "too bad for our Country" and pushed Congress to fix it through legislation. Speaker Mike Johnson said he was "very disappointed" and signaled that a constitutional amendment is the only path forward.
That is a brutal admission. Roberts locked this question into the Constitution, which means reversing it requires two-thirds of Congress and ratification by 38 states.
Rush called Trump's original push on this "make-or-break time" – because someone needed to break the furniture to get the remodel done.
Roberts chose not to break anything. He buried the original intent under 194 pages of English common law history – and handed the Left a constitutional victory they couldn't win any other way.
Rush passed away in February 2021. He never got to see the battle he warned about reach the Supreme Court. He already knew how Roberts would rule.
Sources:
- Jim Hoft, "Here Is What Rush Limbaugh Said about the 14th Amendment and Birthright Citizenship," The Gateway Pundit, July 8, 2026.
- Mike Davis, "Dissecting the Supreme Court's Birthright Betrayal," Fox News, June 30, 2026.
- "Supreme Court Birthright Citizenship Ruling 'A Tremendous Betrayal' Says Heritage Chief," The Hill, June 30, 2026.
- "Birthright Citizenship: A Fundamental Misunderstanding of the 14th Amendment," Heritage Foundation.
- "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship," White House, January 20, 2025.
- "How the Supreme Court Justices Ruled on Birthright Citizenship," The Hill, June 30, 2026.
- "FOR INSIDERS: GOP Lawmakers Eye Legislation Challenging Birthright Citizenship Ruling," The Hill, July 1, 2026.