Justice Brett Kavanaugh singled out for 'strange opinion' in birthright citizenship case

Justice Brett Kavanaugh helped hand Donald Trump a defeat on birthright citizenship on Tuesday while simultaneously offering a roadmap for how a future Congress could accomplish what the Supreme Court refused to allow the president to do unilaterally.Kavanaugh joined the majority in striking down Trump's executive order attempting to eliminate birthright citizenship protections guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion reaffirming that nearly all children born on U.S. soil automatically receive citizenship regardless of parental nationality.But Kavanaugh's concurrence contained a novel and unprecedented suggestion that could open the door for a conservative Congress to legislatively eliminate birthright citizenship in the future, according to Georgetown Law professor Stephen Vladeck, writing for CNN."Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a bit of a strange opinion, explaining that he was “concurring in the judgment,” but also “dissenting in part," the legal expert wrote.As he explained, Kavanaugh agreed that Trump's executive order violated existing statutes Congress passed in 1940 and 1952, which codified the Supreme Court's 1898 interpretation of the Citizenship Clause, however the conservative jurist has some advice for GOP lawmakers, with Vladek writing, "In his [Kavanaugh's] view, Congress could limit birthright citizenship by statute; it just hasn’t."