1 00:00:02,759 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Law with June Grossel from Bloomberg Radio. 2 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:10,680 Speaker 2: As part of my plan to secure the border, on 3 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 2: day one my new term in office, I will sign 4 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 2: an executive order making clear to federal agencies that, under 5 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:22,599 Speaker 2: the correct interpretation of the law going forward, the future 6 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 2: children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic US citizenship. 7 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 3: President elect Donald Trump has promised to end birthright citizenship 8 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:35,640 Speaker 3: as soon as he gets into office. The policy means 9 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:39,760 Speaker 3: that anyone born in the United States automatically becomes an 10 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 3: American citizen, even if they're born to someone who's here illegally. 11 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 3: The leading Supreme Court case on birthright citizenship dates back 12 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,599 Speaker 3: to eighteen ninety eight, and any attempt to get rid 13 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:56,600 Speaker 3: of it will certainly face legal challenges. Joining me is 14 00:00:56,600 --> 00:01:00,319 Speaker 3: immigration law expert Leon Fresco, a partner at Holliday Night. 15 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 3: Leon give us a little bit of the history of 16 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:04,600 Speaker 3: birthright citizenship. 17 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:08,959 Speaker 1: Well. Birthright citizenship is basically a product of the Civil 18 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: War and the end of Slavery Amendments, the thirteen fourteen 19 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:16,400 Speaker 1: to fifteenth amendments that were enacted to end slavery, and 20 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 1: under the fourteenth Amendment, what it said was that anyone 21 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: born in the United States that was within the jurisdiction 22 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: of the United States, and that's going to be the 23 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,399 Speaker 1: key point, is a citizen. And so this had nothing 24 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 1: to do with anything related to immigration. It was just 25 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:34,679 Speaker 1: to say you couldn't have people born here who were 26 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:37,760 Speaker 1: not citizens because that was sort of the way of 27 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:40,039 Speaker 1: the world at that time, which is, you had slaves 28 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 1: and you had people who were not slaves, and to 29 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: end that you had to say people who were born 30 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: here had the full right of citizenship. And so that 31 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: was the way it was written to end slavery. Now, 32 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: what that translates to for the purposes of post the 33 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: enactment of the fourteenth Amendment and where we are today 34 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: is that any person born in the United States is 35 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 1: a citizen. So that can literally mean that if someone 36 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:09,680 Speaker 1: was here on a tourist visa and they had to 37 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: go to the hospital and then the baby was delivered 38 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: at that moment, that baby would be a US citizen, 39 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 1: even if they only spent one day in the United States. 40 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 1: As long as they can get the recording of the 41 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:23,760 Speaker 1: birth in the United States, that baby would be entitled 42 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:27,639 Speaker 1: to US citizenship, which also means that when that baby 43 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:31,320 Speaker 1: turns twenty one years old, they could actually petition for 44 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:33,800 Speaker 1: a green card for the parents who were here on 45 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: a tourist visa as well. 46 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 3: So that language of the Fourteenth Amendment quote all persons 47 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 3: born or naturalized in the United States and subject to 48 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 3: the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, And 49 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:54,919 Speaker 3: some proponents of immigration restrictions have argued that those words 50 00:02:54,960 --> 00:03:00,200 Speaker 3: subject to the jurisdiction thereof in the fourteenth Amendment allow 51 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:05,840 Speaker 3: the US to deny citizenship to babies born to those 52 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 3: in the country illegally. 53 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: So the real purpose of that language of subject to 54 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: the jurisdiction is to cover the following situation. If I 55 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:20,320 Speaker 1: am here and I am working for the Embassy of Denmark, 56 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:23,960 Speaker 1: let's say that means that I am, you know, an 57 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 1: ambassador or a consul general or something. I am subject 58 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:31,360 Speaker 1: to the privileges and immunities of something called the Vienna 59 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: Convention on Consular Relations. You may have seen, or your 60 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:37,960 Speaker 1: viewers or listeners may have seen, you know, movies like 61 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 1: Lethal Weapon where people say I have diplomatic community, you 62 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: cannot arrest me for whatever crimes I'm committing in this 63 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: movie or whatever. And that comes from the Vienna Convention 64 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: on Consular Relations, meaning people who have diplomatic community are 65 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. So 66 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 1: what does that mean. If people who have diplomatic community 67 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 1: have children in the United States, those children do not 68 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: become US citizens. That's what that means. It's historically been 69 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: meant to apply to people with diplomatic communities. President Trump, 70 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: and they want to say that someone who is here 71 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:18,239 Speaker 1: in America illegally, who has children in the United States 72 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: is not covered by the fourteenth Amendment because they're saying 73 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 1: that they want to interpret this clause of not being 74 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: subject to the jurisdiction of the United States as meaning 75 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 1: that those individuals don't get birthright citizenship, which has not 76 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: been historically the case. Historically, even if an inndocumented person 77 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 1: has children, those children are Americans. Here's what's interesting about that. 78 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: If you really want to make that argument, what you 79 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: would technically be saying is that an undocumented person is 80 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:54,280 Speaker 1: not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, meaning 81 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: that they have diplomatic communities. So someone who's here without 82 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:03,040 Speaker 1: status could act, you know, park their car illegally or 83 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: speed or do something else and they would say, well, 84 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,279 Speaker 1: you know, the President says that I'm that's subject to 85 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 1: the jurisdiction of the United States. So there you go 86 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 1: and the story. So I don't know how they intend 87 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 1: to harmonize that point for the purposes of this discussion. 88 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:22,800 Speaker 3: Is there only one case, one Supreme Court case that's considered. 89 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:25,920 Speaker 1: There is a case from more than one hundred years 90 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:29,480 Speaker 1: ago called the United States versus One kim Ark, and 91 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:31,560 Speaker 1: it was a case where there was a child born 92 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:34,240 Speaker 1: in the United States to Chinese parents who at that 93 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:38,360 Speaker 1: time were prohibited from becoming US citizens because there was 94 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:42,320 Speaker 1: all of these laws about how to exclude Chinese nationals, 95 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:45,839 Speaker 1: and then there was laws about actually deporting legal Chinese 96 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: people who were here, and so they were trying to 97 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 1: deport this child who was part of this you know, 98 00:05:54,200 --> 00:06:00,599 Speaker 1: just Chinese uh desire to deport people from China, and 99 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 1: they said that in this situation, that child is a 100 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:07,080 Speaker 1: US citizen, you can't actually deport this person because the 101 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:10,960 Speaker 1: child was born in the United States. And so that's 102 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: the only case we have analyzing that issue. And the 103 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:18,479 Speaker 1: question is, Okay, if President Trump issues an executive order 104 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 1: when it gets challenged, would this version of the Supreme 105 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,440 Speaker 1: Court decide no, we're going to actually look at this 106 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: again and decide that this subject to the jurisdiction actually 107 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:32,800 Speaker 1: can be interpreted in a way to prevent people who 108 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 1: are undocumented from being able to have kids who are 109 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: US citizens. 110 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 3: So, as you mentioned, Trump said that he could enact 111 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:46,680 Speaker 3: a plan to do away with birthright citizenship through an 112 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 3: executive order. 113 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:51,040 Speaker 1: Correct, and the plan would be as follows. What he 114 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: would try to do is to force the issue and 115 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 1: get it before the courts. In this way, he would 116 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 1: just issue an executive order that says, dear United States 117 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:04,360 Speaker 1: Passport Office, if somebody comes and applies for a passport 118 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: and the only thing that they hand you is a 119 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 1: birth certificate and they don't give you anything else, You're 120 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: gonna have to find out some information about the parents 121 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 1: before you give them a US passport. And this will 122 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 1: require a major change in the way the Passport Office operates. Currently, 123 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 1: you show your birth certificate, that's the end of story. 124 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 1: That they confirm it with the state registrar, and that's 125 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:31,400 Speaker 1: the end. You get a passport. Now you will have 126 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: to show some information on at least one of your 127 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 1: parents to show that at least one of them was 128 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:41,600 Speaker 1: legally here inside the United States at the time of 129 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:45,600 Speaker 1: your birth. And so that's going to be quite fascinating 130 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:49,680 Speaker 1: because that will require a whole new adjudication to occur 131 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 1: that didn't previously occur. So on top of just the 132 00:07:54,440 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: normal adjudication that would be well, is this whole exercise 133 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:04,200 Speaker 1: of trying to get rid of birthright citizenship illegal and 134 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:07,120 Speaker 1: that litigation is certainly going to happen. There might actually 135 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: be case by case adjudication, which is permitted. There's a 136 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,200 Speaker 1: lot of this passport adjudication that goes on in America, 137 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 1: which is that when the state Department denies you a passport, 138 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 1: you can actually file a federal court case and you 139 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:21,280 Speaker 1: can say, look, I don't have this information because my 140 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:24,800 Speaker 1: mother or my father abandoned me or whatever reason. And 141 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:27,880 Speaker 1: you might be someone who's lineage is here four hundred 142 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 1: years but you don't know because you were abandoned by 143 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:33,839 Speaker 1: your parents or something else. And it's all going to 144 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:38,240 Speaker 1: be quite fascinating to see how the Passport office handles 145 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 1: all of this. But that's the idea get that case 146 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:46,239 Speaker 1: in motion by triggering through an executive order an instruction 147 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:49,760 Speaker 1: to the State Department that says, don't just accept the 148 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:52,480 Speaker 1: birth certificate. You're gonna have to find out some information 149 00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:55,720 Speaker 1: about the parents of these individuals to see if at 150 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: least one of them was in legal status before this 151 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 1: child was born, before you give them a US passport. 152 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:04,560 Speaker 1: And then there's a belief that the executive order would 153 00:09:04,559 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 1: also cover the Social Security Administration and would say that 154 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: if a child tries to apply for a Social Security number, 155 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 1: that social Security number wouldn't be given unless, again there's 156 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:20,959 Speaker 1: some beliefs that the parents were in the United States legally. 157 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: This also would require a dramatic change in how the 158 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: Social Security Administration does this, because a lot of this 159 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: has already been sort of automated through the hospital that 160 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:33,839 Speaker 1: you have a hospital and you have a birth, and 161 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:36,080 Speaker 1: you have a birth certificate, and then you have a 162 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 1: Social Security number that gets generated, and a lot of 163 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 1: this is quite almost automated in its nature. And so 164 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:47,439 Speaker 1: now you have to have this new and quite potentially 165 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:51,080 Speaker 1: burden some extra requirements that you provide all of the 166 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,280 Speaker 1: evidence on the parents. It's going to actually be quite 167 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:56,440 Speaker 1: a cumbersome process while it's in litigation. 168 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:00,360 Speaker 3: If he issued an executive order like that, it would 169 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:03,760 Speaker 3: immediately be challenged in the courts. What do you think 170 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:08,000 Speaker 3: the chances are that the courts would allow. 171 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:11,360 Speaker 1: That my sort of belief in terms of if you 172 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:16,080 Speaker 1: had judges that were CHET GPT judges and not human judges, 173 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: for instance, I don't think the case would get very far. 174 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:21,480 Speaker 1: Meaning I don't think that you could end birthright citizenship 175 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 1: in this way because I think given the historical interpretation 176 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: of it, and given what this word subject to the 177 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:32,200 Speaker 1: jurisdiction means and what it was intended for, I don't 178 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:35,200 Speaker 1: see how it would be possible to say that it 179 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:40,080 Speaker 1: was intended to cover undocumented individuals. So I do think 180 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:43,320 Speaker 1: it would be more of just saying you tried, and 181 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:45,400 Speaker 1: then having the court shut it down and then moving 182 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 1: to some other mechanism to try to resolve this. But 183 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,840 Speaker 1: because the judges are human and there isn't just a 184 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:58,040 Speaker 1: chat GPT component to this, you never know. Maybe some 185 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 1: people will make that argument, because there's certainly a lot 186 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 1: of political people making the argument right now. But I 187 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:06,880 Speaker 1: just don't think you get to fight Supreme Court justices 188 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:09,079 Speaker 1: at the end of the day on this issue, because 189 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:13,560 Speaker 1: I think the textualists will be clear that we know 190 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 1: what the intent of this was at the time that 191 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:19,480 Speaker 1: was written, and there's no way we can say it 192 00:11:19,559 --> 00:11:22,440 Speaker 1: meant to cover this issue of immigration because during the 193 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:26,720 Speaker 1: Civil War we still didn't really have immigration laws yet 194 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 1: in the United States. The first real immigration laws came 195 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:34,320 Speaker 1: after the Civil War in the late eighteen hundreds. So 196 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:37,840 Speaker 1: the idea that anything related to the Fourteenth Amendment had 197 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 1: anything to do with immigration would be very difficult to 198 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: justify because it just wasn't in the cards at that time. 199 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:49,120 Speaker 3: Okay, stay with me, Leon coming up next on the 200 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 3: Bloomberg Law Show, Why MAGA is fighting over h one 201 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 3: B visas. I'm June Gross. When you're listening to Bloomberg. 202 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:01,719 Speaker 3: Donald Trump has promised a crack down on illegal immigration 203 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:05,520 Speaker 3: on day one of his administration. He's also promised to 204 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:09,440 Speaker 3: get rid of birthright citizenship, which gives anyone born in 205 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:13,480 Speaker 3: this country American citizenship, even if their parents are here 206 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:17,400 Speaker 3: illegally or are here legally on tourist visas. 207 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:20,439 Speaker 2: My order will also end their unfair practice known as 208 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:24,280 Speaker 2: birth tourism. Were hundreds of thousands of people from all 209 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:28,440 Speaker 2: over the planet squad in hotels for their last few 210 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:33,400 Speaker 2: weeks of pregnancy to illegitimately and illegally obtain you a 211 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 2: citizenship for the child, often to later exploit chain migration 212 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 2: to jump the line and get green cards for themselves 213 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:44,160 Speaker 2: and their family members. 214 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:49,400 Speaker 3: I've been talking to immigration law expert Leon Fresco. Leon 215 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 3: Trump could attempt to end birthright citizenship through a constitutional amendment, theoretically, 216 00:12:56,320 --> 00:13:01,600 Speaker 3: because a constitutional amendment requires two thirds of both houses 217 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:05,520 Speaker 3: and ratification by three fourths of the state legislature, so 218 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:09,679 Speaker 3: it's almost an impossibility these days. Are there any estimates 219 00:13:09,679 --> 00:13:14,160 Speaker 3: of how many people have birthright citizenship who are born 220 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:17,199 Speaker 3: here but their parents are not here legally. 221 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 1: Well, one of the issues is it's going to depend 222 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 1: how you want to define the excluded class, because some 223 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,560 Speaker 1: people want to say your parents had to have had 224 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:32,240 Speaker 1: citizenship or at least a green card meaning lawful permanent residence, 225 00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:35,199 Speaker 1: and if they were here on any other visa, meaning 226 00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:37,480 Speaker 1: a tourist visa. So even if they were here legally, 227 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:39,679 Speaker 1: but they were here on a tourist visa or a 228 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:42,440 Speaker 1: work visa. Some of these work visas can be quite 229 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:46,320 Speaker 1: extensive in terms of their length that these still wouldn't 230 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 1: count to confer birthright citizenship. So if we were talking 231 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:53,480 Speaker 1: about that, we'd be talking about millions of people. If 232 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: we're talking about just the children of two purely undocumented parents, 233 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:02,960 Speaker 1: we're probably talking about hundreds of thousands of people. So 234 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:06,120 Speaker 1: we're not talking about millions of people full we are 235 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:09,760 Speaker 1: talking about hundreds of thousands of people. But there is 236 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:12,679 Speaker 1: some concern and it has been raised in the past, 237 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:16,680 Speaker 1: and it's certainly not something that is nonexistent about this 238 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:21,440 Speaker 1: concept of quote unquote birth tourism where people come to 239 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:26,240 Speaker 1: the United States for the purpose of creating a United 240 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:28,680 Speaker 1: States that is in child that can then be used 241 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:31,560 Speaker 1: to apply for the Green card for the parents twenty 242 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:34,960 Speaker 1: one years later. And that certainly does happen, and I've 243 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 1: seen those cases, so it's not that it doesn't happen. 244 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:41,880 Speaker 1: But the question is with those people also be excluded 245 00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:45,000 Speaker 1: from the group. I know that they want to exclude 246 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:47,840 Speaker 1: those people moving forward, but then actually you also have 247 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:52,920 Speaker 1: some legitimate questions about there are many scenarios where what 248 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 1: is happening is it's not quote unquote birth tourism, but 249 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:04,600 Speaker 1: that's a country doesn't necessarily have a specific medical advanced 250 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:08,320 Speaker 1: thing for whatever medical situation is happening in a pregnancy, 251 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:11,560 Speaker 1: and the doctors in that country will say, hey, you 252 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: really need to travel to the US because you have 253 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:17,720 Speaker 1: a very high risk pregnancy or there's some complication with 254 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:21,440 Speaker 1: the fetus or whatever it may be. And the question 255 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:23,840 Speaker 1: is are all of those people going to be banned 256 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:27,080 Speaker 1: from entering the United States? Currently those people are banned. 257 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:29,120 Speaker 1: What they have to show is that they have enough 258 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:33,160 Speaker 1: money to have the coverage and cover the costs, and 259 00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 1: that there really is some medical urgency for this. And 260 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 1: if you don't actually have any immigration problems in your background, 261 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:43,880 Speaker 1: you can get a visitor visa. And would this be 262 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:48,239 Speaker 1: eliminated here even in these cases of very high risk pregnancies. 263 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:51,680 Speaker 1: I don't know, but it would certainly be one step 264 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 1: backward in these specific humanitarian cases. 265 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 3: And let's say there is birthright citizenship. A child is 266 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 3: born one years later tries to get green cards for 267 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:06,280 Speaker 3: his or her parents. Are those green cards easy to 268 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:07,840 Speaker 3: get if you're a citizen? 269 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:11,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, believe it or not, they are. The test would 270 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:13,120 Speaker 1: be that you would have to show that there's a 271 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:17,000 Speaker 1: US citizen, which that child is now, who's over twenty one, 272 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:20,160 Speaker 1: and that they are applying for their parents, and that 273 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:25,360 Speaker 1: there is an actual parent child relationship there. And that's it. 274 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:27,640 Speaker 1: That's the test. I mean. The only other thing that 275 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: is required is you need the child to have a 276 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 1: certain amount of financial means in order to guarantee that 277 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:39,120 Speaker 1: the parents will not be dependent on welfare. But usually 278 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:42,240 Speaker 1: what happens in that situation is the parents will give 279 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:46,000 Speaker 1: the child the assets that are necessary in order to 280 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:50,880 Speaker 1: have that burden mess or they find a United States 281 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:55,400 Speaker 1: citizen who's willing to provide that guarantee that they won't 282 00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: use public benefits. But that's the only real obstacle is this, 283 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 1: Who's going to be able to say that you won't 284 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:06,879 Speaker 1: be using public benefits? There's an assets test that's there 285 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:09,480 Speaker 1: that you could just say I have sufficient assets to 286 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:10,919 Speaker 1: make sure that this doesn't happen. 287 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 3: Well, could Trump change that part of it and say 288 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:16,240 Speaker 3: we're not going to get green cards that easily? 289 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:19,320 Speaker 1: Well, what Trump could do is make it harder in 290 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:23,480 Speaker 1: that situation to meet the assets test. That certainly he 291 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 1: can do through the public charge a component of this, 292 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:31,040 Speaker 1: but he can't actually change how the green card works 293 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:34,439 Speaker 1: without changing the statute. So there you would need Congress, 294 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:37,119 Speaker 1: and you certainly could do that. You couldn't do it 295 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:39,760 Speaker 1: through the child because then you'd have what's called two 296 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:42,639 Speaker 1: different classes of citizens, and you could have an equal 297 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:47,080 Speaker 1: protection problem, but you could do it through legislating against 298 00:17:47,119 --> 00:17:50,960 Speaker 1: the parents. And you could say that a parent who 299 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:56,639 Speaker 1: gave birth to a child in the United States while 300 00:17:56,680 --> 00:17:59,840 Speaker 1: either on a visitor visa or any illegal status, is 301 00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:03,880 Speaker 1: not able to obtain lawful permanent residence on the basis 302 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:06,600 Speaker 1: of that child. So you do it that way, You've 303 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:09,760 Speaker 1: put a ban on the parents and not on the child, 304 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:13,280 Speaker 1: and so that way it wouldn't be an equal protection violation. 305 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:16,160 Speaker 1: And so you could do that, but again this would 306 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:19,119 Speaker 1: require an act of Congress. And the question is, you 307 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:22,520 Speaker 1: know what is Congress willing to do on a bipartisan basis. 308 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:25,120 Speaker 1: I do think you could get to something like that 309 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:29,199 Speaker 1: if you had a larger overhaul of everything, and so 310 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:32,160 Speaker 1: you had some things that helped people who were already here, 311 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:34,920 Speaker 1: and then you did some things on the enforcement side 312 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:37,080 Speaker 1: and all of that. You could get to a bill 313 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:40,040 Speaker 1: like that. But just a bill that just did that 314 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:44,240 Speaker 1: would probably be unlikely to get any Democratic support without 315 00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:46,720 Speaker 1: something in it that Democrats also want. 316 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:49,840 Speaker 3: Let's talk about the H one B visas and this 317 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:55,360 Speaker 3: public fight among high profile supporters of Trump over these 318 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 3: visas for highly skilled workers. Are we just talking about 319 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:02,919 Speaker 3: eighty five thousand visas a year? Is that the cap? 320 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 1: Well, here's what's very interesting about that. The program is 321 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:09,639 Speaker 1: actually quite complex in this sense. So there's first a 322 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:14,199 Speaker 1: sixty five thousand annual cap for people who apply for 323 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,600 Speaker 1: the visa who have a college degree and have a 324 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:21,600 Speaker 1: job that requires that specific college degree. Then there's an 325 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:25,880 Speaker 1: extra twenty thousand for people who have a master's degree 326 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,960 Speaker 1: and have a job that requires that master's degree. So 327 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:32,560 Speaker 1: that's the key test is that it has to match that. 328 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:36,440 Speaker 1: But in addition, there's an exemption from the cap, meaning 329 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,720 Speaker 1: you can exceed the cap in an unlimited amount for 330 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:45,640 Speaker 1: any individual who is employed by either a nonprofit research institution. 331 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:49,639 Speaker 1: That would be things like you know, the Script's Research 332 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:54,880 Speaker 1: Foundation or the Bookings Institute, or any nonprofit that does research, 333 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:59,199 Speaker 1: or a university, so a university can also employ the person, 334 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:05,760 Speaker 1: and also the governments themselves or a contractor who's providing 335 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:10,520 Speaker 1: the services to the government. And so through those mechanisms 336 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:13,760 Speaker 1: you actually have you know, maybe two three hundred thousand 337 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:17,439 Speaker 1: people a year who use the H one B visa 338 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:20,119 Speaker 1: one way or the other in order to remain in 339 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:23,120 Speaker 1: the United States, and the traditional pipeline is you come 340 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:27,040 Speaker 1: as a foreign student. You then do something called OPT 341 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:30,879 Speaker 1: which is optional practical training, which is something that was 342 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:34,320 Speaker 1: invented by regulation, which allows you to work while you 343 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:37,639 Speaker 1: are on a student visa. Then if the company that 344 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:40,000 Speaker 1: you're working for like to you, they petition for you 345 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:43,000 Speaker 1: to have one of visa AH one B visas. And 346 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:46,840 Speaker 1: then if that happens and they like you even further, 347 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:48,920 Speaker 1: they can petition for you to have a Green card. 348 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:52,640 Speaker 1: But the problem is these green card categories are all 349 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:56,400 Speaker 1: backlogs for many, many, many years, and so what's happening 350 00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,440 Speaker 1: is people are stuck on these H one B visas 351 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:03,439 Speaker 1: for many years. And both the people on the H 352 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:07,159 Speaker 1: one V visa but also the competitors for the people 353 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:10,680 Speaker 1: on the H one V visas believe that this creates 354 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:15,520 Speaker 1: a workplace situation that is very anti American worker because 355 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:19,560 Speaker 1: if you have people that are basically stuck at an employer, 356 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:24,320 Speaker 1: then that not only makes them in a difficult situation, 357 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:28,040 Speaker 1: but it also makes the American competitors disadvantage because why 358 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: wouldn't an employer prefer someone who's stuck than someone who 359 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:33,200 Speaker 1: has free agency. 360 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:37,760 Speaker 3: So Leon it doesn't seem like it's that many people. 361 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:40,800 Speaker 3: Then why this focus on it. I mean, we're not 362 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 3: talking millions. 363 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:46,239 Speaker 1: Are we correct? We're not talking millions. The reason I 364 00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 1: think that you see this anger in this debate is 365 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:54,880 Speaker 1: because it's a very emotional debate, meaning that the people 366 00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:58,400 Speaker 1: who feel that they've been aggrieved by this feel that 367 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:02,080 Speaker 1: they've done everything correct, meaning they've gone to a university, 368 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: they've obtained the degree. It's been a degree and some 369 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 1: subject that's not been a highly desirable one, meaning you're 370 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,600 Speaker 1: doing something very difficult at school. You're getting an engineering degree, 371 00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:17,280 Speaker 1: or you're getting a mechanical engineering degree, or or something 372 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 1: that is a very very difficult, arduous experience. So you 373 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:22,119 Speaker 1: do all of that, and then at the end of 374 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: the day, your reward isn't like it might be if 375 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:27,720 Speaker 1: you go into banking and you're making millions of dollars. 376 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:31,639 Speaker 1: You're making not so much money, and you're competing with 377 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:35,239 Speaker 1: people from all over the world where those people are 378 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:38,399 Speaker 1: driving down the cost of your wages. This is what 379 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,959 Speaker 1: people get angry about, and even if it hasn't happened 380 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:45,600 Speaker 1: to them, they anecdotally will know of a story in 381 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:48,639 Speaker 1: which it's happened and they get upset about it. 382 00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:52,040 Speaker 3: And so what are Trump supporters who are critics of 383 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:55,320 Speaker 3: the H one B visa program looking to do. 384 00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:59,320 Speaker 1: Basically, here is what they would want to do. And 385 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:03,920 Speaker 1: this is where it gets super complicated right now. Unlike 386 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:07,359 Speaker 1: the green card process, because when you apply for someone 387 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:11,880 Speaker 1: for unemployment based green card, in many circumstances, not all, 388 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:14,200 Speaker 1: but in many, the way you have to get that 389 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:16,560 Speaker 1: employment based green card is to do what's called the 390 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:20,159 Speaker 1: labor market test, where you proved to the Department of Labor. 391 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: I tried to hire an American, but that American was 392 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:26,760 Speaker 1: not available, and so that's why I had to hire 393 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:29,640 Speaker 1: the foreign national. Now, there's a lot of criticism about 394 00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:32,880 Speaker 1: how that process works and how people operate in it 395 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:35,760 Speaker 1: and all of that. So that process is by no 396 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:39,560 Speaker 1: means perfect, but they want to put that into the 397 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:41,679 Speaker 1: H one B as well, because right now the H 398 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:47,240 Speaker 1: one B does not prevent a company from directly hiring 399 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:50,840 Speaker 1: a foreign worker without trying to first determine if an 400 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:53,920 Speaker 1: American was available for the job. There are some people 401 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,159 Speaker 1: who just want to end the program or to have 402 00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,600 Speaker 1: President Trump do a travel band like he did with 403 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:02,080 Speaker 1: other visa You know when there was the Middle Eastern 404 00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:05,040 Speaker 1: Travel Band and just say, look, I'm banning the whole program. 405 00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:09,400 Speaker 1: But that's not ultimately what the press release of President 406 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:13,600 Speaker 1: Trump said or what others said. What they came to 407 00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 1: is this other debate of where they want to go 408 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:20,000 Speaker 1: is to say, if somebody's going to hire someone on 409 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,640 Speaker 1: an H one B, they have to show that there 410 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:25,040 Speaker 1: isn't an American worker who can do that job. But 411 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,920 Speaker 1: here's where that gets complicated. The H one B Statute 412 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:33,280 Speaker 1: was written with such detail and complexity unlike any other 413 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:36,520 Speaker 1: statute because when it was written, it was written by 414 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:41,960 Speaker 1: baffers and legislators who knew how contentious immigration was and 415 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,399 Speaker 1: how it could be subject to the wins of different administrations. 416 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:48,000 Speaker 1: So they were very wise at the time and how 417 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:52,040 Speaker 1: they implemented their goals, and so unlike many other things, 418 00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 1: these individuals actually were very very careful on how they 419 00:24:56,840 --> 00:24:59,000 Speaker 1: wrote it. And so any change to the H one 420 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:02,600 Speaker 1: B pretty much has be done by statute, meaning Congress 421 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,159 Speaker 1: has the right to change it. It's very hard to 422 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:06,520 Speaker 1: change it administratively. 423 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:11,359 Speaker 3: And big picture, leon do you think that come Inauguration day, 424 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,440 Speaker 3: homeland security is going to be geared up enough to 425 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:16,600 Speaker 3: start deportations that will see that. 426 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:20,880 Speaker 1: I think you will start to see operations that are 427 00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:25,240 Speaker 1: meant to capture the public attention. So I think they 428 00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:28,359 Speaker 1: will say, here, give me a list of people with 429 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: criminal convictions, and give me a list of people with 430 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,520 Speaker 1: deportation orders that have already been issued, and we're going 431 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:39,000 Speaker 1: to start operations in big cities that are for the 432 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:43,440 Speaker 1: purpose of finding those people and detaining them and putting 433 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:46,240 Speaker 1: them in deportation proceedings. And so the idea will be 434 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:51,000 Speaker 1: that by doing those operations and announcing them and putting 435 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,560 Speaker 1: them in the press, and perhaps doing some things that 436 00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:58,679 Speaker 1: were more noticeable than in the past, well maybe instead 437 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:01,320 Speaker 1: of going to the person's house, you go to the 438 00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:05,000 Speaker 1: person's workplace or to some other public place and pick 439 00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:09,080 Speaker 1: the person up. That would lead to sort of more 440 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:13,080 Speaker 1: tension and nervousness in the communities that are affected by 441 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:16,119 Speaker 1: these operations, so that people would start to say, well, 442 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:18,880 Speaker 1: I can't live with this kind of stress. I'm going 443 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 1: to just leave the United States. And so I think 444 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:23,959 Speaker 1: that's what you're going to see. I don't think you're 445 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,320 Speaker 1: going to see millions of people being detained or any 446 00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: of that. I don't think there's the infrastructure for it. 447 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:34,879 Speaker 1: There's not the legal resources for this. But the idea is, 448 00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:39,320 Speaker 1: can certain operations be created that have enough publicity and 449 00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:42,920 Speaker 1: create enough nervousness that people will then decide that they 450 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:45,040 Speaker 1: want to leave the United States. 451 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:47,959 Speaker 3: I have a feeling the next four years there's going 452 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:50,240 Speaker 3: to be a lot of immigration issues for you to 453 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:54,040 Speaker 3: talk about. Leon, Thanks so much. That's Leon Fresco of 454 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:58,360 Speaker 3: Holland and Knight coming up next. Justice Clarence Thomas appears 455 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:02,840 Speaker 3: to be off the hook those ethical violations. This is Bloomberg. 456 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:08,240 Speaker 3: Justice Clarence Thomas has been mired in controversy since Pro 457 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:12,040 Speaker 3: public Are revealed in twenty twenty three that he accepted 458 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:15,879 Speaker 3: luxury trips and gifts worth millions of dollars from a 459 00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:20,440 Speaker 3: GOP mega donor for decades, and now the federal Judiciary 460 00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:24,720 Speaker 3: has decided Thomas will not face a federal investigation of 461 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:29,359 Speaker 3: ethics violations. The US Judicial Conference announced that it will 462 00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:34,000 Speaker 3: not refer allegations that Thomas may have violated ethics laws 463 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,879 Speaker 3: to the Justice Department. The Conference also announced that it 464 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:42,560 Speaker 3: will not refer allegations that Justice Katanji Brown Jackson failed 465 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:47,080 Speaker 3: to report her husband's income from medical malpractice consulting fees. 466 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 3: Joining me is ethics law expert Stephen Gillers, a professor 467 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:55,119 Speaker 3: at NYU Law School. In this letter, Judge Robert Conrad, 468 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:59,240 Speaker 3: the director of the Administrative Office of the US Courts, 469 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:04,119 Speaker 3: and the Judicial Conference does not superintend the justices of 470 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:08,359 Speaker 3: the Supreme Court, only lower courts. Is that really the case? 471 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,560 Speaker 4: No, it's not. And that's the most troubling part of 472 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:17,280 Speaker 4: Conrad's letter, because that view means that no justice, not 473 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:22,240 Speaker 4: only Thomas in this instance, is subject to referral by 474 00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:30,160 Speaker 4: the Federal Judicial Conference. I think that conrad conclusion is indefensible. Certainly, 475 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:33,840 Speaker 4: it is not defended credibly, and that surprising in and 476 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:37,480 Speaker 4: of itself. Remember how we got here. There's a prelude 477 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:39,800 Speaker 4: to this, and for a long time there was no 478 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 4: code of ethics for the Supreme Court at all, and 479 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:49,440 Speaker 4: then an adopted one in twenty three without an enforcement provision, 480 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:55,960 Speaker 4: and various observers thought, well, maybe the Judicial Conference would 481 00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 4: be the enforcer. Maybe there's some way to create or 482 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:04,440 Speaker 4: authority or jurisdiction and the Conference to enforce the new 483 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,160 Speaker 4: Supreme Court ethics code. But that never came to pass, 484 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:12,240 Speaker 4: and so we have in that code a document that 485 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:16,840 Speaker 4: is really aspirational only because a justice could violate it 486 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:20,320 Speaker 4: clearly and still not be subject to any kind of 487 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:24,920 Speaker 4: enforcement or sanction or repercussion. However, when we come to 488 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:29,760 Speaker 4: the financial disclosures, we're in a different category altogether, because 489 00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:35,680 Speaker 4: Congress has said that the financial disclosure rules apply to 490 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:41,200 Speaker 4: all judicial officers, including the Supreme Court. So we have 491 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:48,480 Speaker 4: congressional authorization for other branches and agencies of government to 492 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:54,760 Speaker 4: view justices as within the financial disclosure obligations. And then 493 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:58,240 Speaker 4: Congress has also said in the Ethics and Government Debt 494 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:04,720 Speaker 4: that when any of certain listed actors have reasonable cause 495 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:11,680 Speaker 4: to believe that a judicial officer has willfully violated the 496 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:20,240 Speaker 4: financial disclosure requirements, that person shall it's mandatory, shall report 497 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 4: the violation, or at least the reasonable cause to believe, 498 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:28,760 Speaker 4: to the Attorney General. And that includes the judicial conference 499 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 4: a duty to report to the Attorney General when there's 500 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,680 Speaker 4: reasonable cause to believe there's a willful violation. Now that 501 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:40,800 Speaker 4: brings us to Thomas and his many receipts of bounty 502 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,800 Speaker 4: from others during the course of his presence on the 503 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:51,120 Speaker 4: Court and in reviewing the allegations of Senator Whitehouse and 504 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:57,120 Speaker 4: Representative Johnson, Mister Conrad. Judge Conrad, and remarkably never says 505 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:02,880 Speaker 4: that Thomas's conduct, has reviewed by the Conference across two years, 506 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:08,120 Speaker 4: does not reveal a reasonable cause to believe that he 507 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:14,440 Speaker 4: willfully violated the reporting obligations. It does not exonerate Thomas 508 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:18,400 Speaker 4: from that charge. I mean, that would have been hard enough, 509 00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:19,440 Speaker 4: but it does not. 510 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:24,880 Speaker 3: Yes, So, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said that the Judiciary's response 511 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:30,240 Speaker 3: contains a number of inconsistencies and strange claims and doesn't 512 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:34,480 Speaker 3: address whether there's reasonable cause to believe that Thomas wilfully 513 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:36,000 Speaker 3: broke the disclosure law. 514 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:41,840 Speaker 4: Rather, what Conrad says is, well, says three things. Well, 515 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:44,960 Speaker 4: it's all been taken care of them, and Thomas is 516 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:48,360 Speaker 4: in compliance. But he's not in compliance even apply from 517 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:52,520 Speaker 4: the trips and the personal hospitality, there are other things 518 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:57,560 Speaker 4: he did not report. The second, he says that anyway 519 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:01,600 Speaker 4: the reporting obligation can the Attorney General does not apply 520 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:04,840 Speaker 4: to justices, even though the two statutes were talking about 521 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:09,840 Speaker 4: applies to justices. And for that proposition, he says, well, 522 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:14,400 Speaker 4: one of the sentences in the Federal Code about reporting 523 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:20,600 Speaker 4: refers to circuit judges and reporting to the judicial council 524 00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:25,200 Speaker 4: of a circuit or district judges. And given that sentence, 525 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:28,160 Speaker 4: it must be that the Congress did not intend for 526 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:31,680 Speaker 4: reporting of Supreme Court will for violations, which is a 527 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:36,520 Speaker 4: non sequitur. If a lower court judge is guilty or 528 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:39,960 Speaker 4: maybe guilty of will for violation, you report to this 529 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:43,960 Speaker 4: circuit council, says the statute. It doesn't say you don't 530 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:47,560 Speaker 4: report to the Attorney General. The Supreme Court justices are 531 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:51,440 Speaker 4: not subject to judicial council, so you can't report to 532 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:55,880 Speaker 4: the judicial council for a justice. But the sentences still 533 00:32:55,960 --> 00:33:01,600 Speaker 4: remains that the conference shall report bought reasonable cause to 534 00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:06,560 Speaker 4: believe willful violation. To Finally, Conrad seems to think that 535 00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:10,360 Speaker 4: the council just doesn't have power because it was not authorized, 536 00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:15,280 Speaker 4: specifically authorized in the statutes to report such findings of 537 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:20,560 Speaker 4: reasonable cause to believe there was a willful violation. Now 538 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:24,160 Speaker 4: this is a remarkable statement. The idea that a federal 539 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:31,560 Speaker 4: agency needs the approval of Congress to report that a 540 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:38,520 Speaker 4: federal official may have willfully violated a regulation is incomprehensible. 541 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:45,080 Speaker 4: You don't need congressional authorization. One would hope that any 542 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:51,120 Speaker 4: federal worker who has reason to believe that another federal 543 00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:56,880 Speaker 4: workers is willfully violating a federal statute that they could 544 00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:59,920 Speaker 4: report without going first to Congress and asking forced the 545 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:05,280 Speaker 4: civic authority to report. So the idea that Conrad feels 546 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:09,279 Speaker 4: that he is without power to report wrongdoing or a 547 00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:14,520 Speaker 4: possible wrongdoing because Congress didn't tell him to is quite 548 00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:18,840 Speaker 4: sad and troubling. It suggests that we may never get, 549 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:25,080 Speaker 4: even for statutes that specifically recognize justices as within their ambit, 550 00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:31,440 Speaker 4: we may never get any kind of opportunity by an 551 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:36,040 Speaker 4: outside body to review their conduct with a view toward 552 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:40,040 Speaker 4: determining whether or not they behavior violated a law that 553 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:45,120 Speaker 4: Congress passed. This aggravates the situation, but it seems like 554 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:47,360 Speaker 4: there will be no place to go after this unless 555 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:49,920 Speaker 4: Congress legislates, which is unlikely. 556 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:53,160 Speaker 3: He also said that the request became moot when the 557 00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:57,920 Speaker 3: Democrats asked the ag Merrick Garland to appoint a special 558 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:00,560 Speaker 3: counsel to investigate. 559 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:04,080 Speaker 4: Right and there's a problem there too, because the conference 560 00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:07,759 Speaker 4: has spent two years looking into Thomas and perhaps Intulito. 561 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:11,359 Speaker 4: Presumably in those two years they have gathered a lot 562 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:16,680 Speaker 4: of information, information that they hope explains one of their 563 00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:21,560 Speaker 4: grounds for not reporting Thomas, but that information may be 564 00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:24,560 Speaker 4: valuable to the Attorney General. The Attorney General may get 565 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,600 Speaker 4: a letter from white House and Johnson's asking for an 566 00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:31,040 Speaker 4: investigation or what have you. The white House and Johnson 567 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:35,920 Speaker 4: don't have the information that Conrad has, and Conrad's not 568 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:40,759 Speaker 4: sharing it because he says Congress didn't specifically authorize him 569 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:43,960 Speaker 4: to do that. And so while it is true that 570 00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:49,000 Speaker 4: others can complain, they can't complain on the same factual record, 571 00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:53,360 Speaker 4: the record that Conrad will have accumulated over two years. 572 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:56,840 Speaker 4: That could help in a decision whether or not the 573 00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:00,920 Speaker 4: Attorney General should invoke the authority to see a civil 574 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 4: remedy for wilful violation of the law. 575 00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:09,160 Speaker 3: We're talking about decades of travel and gifts, etc. And 576 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:12,839 Speaker 3: he only has to report them. He's allowed to take them, 577 00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:13,879 Speaker 3: but he just has. 578 00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:16,919 Speaker 4: To report them. That's right. And you know, when people 579 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 4: were talking about the enforcement of the new Supreme Court 580 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:26,120 Speaker 4: Ethics Code, behind that complaint was the hope that enforcement 581 00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:28,680 Speaker 4: could lead to some kind of sanction, because if it cannot, 582 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:31,160 Speaker 4: what good is it. Even if the sanction is only 583 00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:34,759 Speaker 4: a public document disagreeing with what the justice did or 584 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:38,960 Speaker 4: did not do. This is totally different. This is only reporting. 585 00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:42,400 Speaker 4: No one's asking the Judicial conference to visit a penalty 586 00:36:42,680 --> 00:36:47,480 Speaker 4: on Thomas or others who willfully failed to report. The 587 00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:52,560 Speaker 4: penalty in the statute is in the authorization of the 588 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:55,240 Speaker 4: Attorney General to bring a civil or even a criminal 589 00:36:55,280 --> 00:37:00,440 Speaker 4: action for willful failure to report, not a finding. That 590 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:04,720 Speaker 4: is Conrad doesn't have to make a finding that anyone 591 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:07,920 Speaker 4: violated the law. He just has to make a finding 592 00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:11,080 Speaker 4: that he has reasonable cause to believe that there was 593 00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:12,320 Speaker 4: a willful violation. 594 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:18,440 Speaker 3: So the referral for Thomas came from two Democrats in Congress. 595 00:37:18,719 --> 00:37:23,320 Speaker 3: There was also a referral for Justice Katanji Brown Jackson 596 00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:27,640 Speaker 3: from a conservative legal group for not reporting her husband's 597 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:30,000 Speaker 3: medical malpractice consultations. 598 00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:36,000 Speaker 4: Yeah, this is remarkable because this is one instance, one instance, 599 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:40,160 Speaker 4: and just compare that to Thomas, one instance in which 600 00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:46,400 Speaker 4: relatively knew justice failed to report a spouse's compensation and 601 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:53,160 Speaker 4: then corrected it. There's no parallel between the recidivist behavior 602 00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:57,719 Speaker 4: of Thomas. We still don't know if the reporting that 603 00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:00,880 Speaker 4: Thomas has done is complete. I think we know that 604 00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:03,640 Speaker 4: it is not complete as regards certain things other than 605 00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:09,520 Speaker 4: personal hospitality, so comparing Jackson to Thomas makes no sense. 606 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:12,919 Speaker 4: It's just a captive to say, well, your side does 607 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:15,080 Speaker 4: the same thing, which is ridiculous. 608 00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:18,880 Speaker 3: Let me ask you about the Chief Justice's year end report, 609 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:24,480 Speaker 3: and he's calling criticism of judges and justices and protests 610 00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:29,440 Speaker 3: outside justices houses intimidation of the judiciary. 611 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:34,120 Speaker 4: Well, it's certainly going to a justice' house is troubling. 612 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:38,320 Speaker 4: The family is their children are there. I think the 613 00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:44,759 Speaker 4: federal judiciary has an interest in publicly criticizing ticketing or 614 00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:50,080 Speaker 4: demonstrations before a justice's house, but certainly not in harsh 615 00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:53,160 Speaker 4: criticism of a justices behavior. That's what it's all about. 616 00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:57,160 Speaker 4: That comes with the territory and critics of a particular 617 00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:02,400 Speaker 4: justice for his or her opinion who aggressively in print, 618 00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:07,280 Speaker 4: for example, criticized that justice. That's what the petition clause 619 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:10,040 Speaker 4: of the First Amendment is all about. 620 00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:13,239 Speaker 3: The Supreme Court, as you know, the latest Gallup poll 621 00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:14,880 Speaker 3: is at an all time low. And I keep on 622 00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:17,279 Speaker 3: saying every time his new pole all time low because 623 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:18,960 Speaker 3: he keeps getting lower and lower. 624 00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:20,920 Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, none of. 625 00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:24,720 Speaker 3: This will help people to have more confidence in the court. 626 00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:27,880 Speaker 4: No, but let me be an optimist for a second 627 00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:31,760 Speaker 4: okay against my better judgment. The Three Court first stat 628 00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:35,319 Speaker 4: in seventeen ninety. Justice Thomas came on the Court in 629 00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:39,120 Speaker 4: the nineteen nineties, two hundred plus years later. Between seventeen 630 00:39:39,239 --> 00:39:44,760 Speaker 4: ninety and nineteen ninety, we did not have a serious problem. 631 00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:48,120 Speaker 4: Fordis is the most obvious one in the last seventy 632 00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:52,960 Speaker 4: five years, and that was comparatively minor. Justice Fortis's behavior. 633 00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:58,000 Speaker 4: Justice Douglas created a lot of waves, but also comparatively 634 00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:00,879 Speaker 4: minor compared to what we have today. What we have 635 00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:05,440 Speaker 4: today is ninety percent a result of the behavior of 636 00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:09,800 Speaker 4: one man, Clarence Thomas and to a much lesser extent, 637 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:14,319 Speaker 4: Justice Alito. Both are in their seventies. Even if we 638 00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:18,520 Speaker 4: do nothing, time will change the composition of the Court 639 00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:21,480 Speaker 4: and they will no longer be on it. And so 640 00:40:21,840 --> 00:40:26,600 Speaker 4: my optimistic wish is that once they're gone, and especially 641 00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:31,640 Speaker 4: once Thomas is gone, will revert to the relatively quiescent 642 00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:37,400 Speaker 4: era between seventeen ninety and nineteen ninety. That Thomas is 643 00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:41,600 Speaker 4: a one man reputation destroyer for the Court. He seems 644 00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:44,600 Speaker 4: to have no sense of responsibility and no sense of shame. 645 00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:47,440 Speaker 4: But most of the problem the Court is facing now 646 00:40:47,560 --> 00:40:50,360 Speaker 4: is a product of his behavior if we're talking about 647 00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:56,080 Speaker 4: behavioral justices. Other reasons the Court is suffering is because 648 00:40:56,560 --> 00:41:01,560 Speaker 4: of its decisions, most particularly the DBS decision, and not 649 00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:04,480 Speaker 4: only there's no way to change that, that's inherent in 650 00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:10,280 Speaker 4: the process. During the Warren era, the Court suffered reputational 651 00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:14,400 Speaker 4: hit from the right because of the decisions Miranda and 652 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:18,800 Speaker 4: others they had the warrant Court adopted. That's their job. 653 00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:23,000 Speaker 4: I mean, we may disagree with what gor Citro Kavanaugh believe, 654 00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:26,560 Speaker 4: but they're doing their job. There's no reason to believe 655 00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:33,560 Speaker 4: their conclusions in those cases are improper as their influence improperly. 656 00:41:34,040 --> 00:41:36,480 Speaker 4: They're saying what they think. We may not like what 657 00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:39,400 Speaker 4: they think, but that's what they're doing and it's what 658 00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:43,520 Speaker 4: we want them to honestly do, although some might prefer 659 00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:45,480 Speaker 4: that they reach a different result. 660 00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:49,280 Speaker 3: Always a pleasure. Thanks so much. That's Professor Steven Gillers 661 00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:52,399 Speaker 3: of NYU Law School, And that's it for this edition 662 00:41:52,440 --> 00:41:55,080 Speaker 3: of the Bloomberg Law Show. Remember you can always get 663 00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:58,239 Speaker 3: the latest legal news on our Bloomberg Law Podcast. You 664 00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:02,360 Speaker 3: can find them on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and at www 665 00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:06,720 Speaker 3: dot Bloomberg dot com. Slash podcast slash law, and remember 666 00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:09,759 Speaker 3: to tune into The Bloomberg Law Show every weeknight at 667 00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:13,239 Speaker 3: ten pm Wall Street Time. I'm Jim Grosso and you're 668 00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:14,560 Speaker 3: listening to Bloomberg