Quote · All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
AI Sovereignty Wars, Palantir-Nvidia Deal, SCOTUS Birthright Ruling, Newsom's CA Budget Lie
Where this was said
SCOTUS upholds birthright citizenship, striking Trump's EO
At 1:13:05 · chapter starts 59:06
Jason summarizes the ruling: Chief Justice Roberts wrote the 6-3 majority upholding birthright citizenship, with Kavanaugh carving out a lane suggesting Congress could still tighten rules within the 14th Amendment's framework. [1] — David Friedberg "The Supreme Court struck down Trump's birthright citizenship EO 6-3. Friedberg nailed the history: the 14th Amendment was designed to overt…" 59:20 Sacks argues the 14th Amendment was never intended to apply to children of illegal immigrants — it was ratified to guarantee citizenship for freed slaves after the monstrous Dred Scott ruling of 1857. The problem, he says, is that SCOTUS has now taken this decision out of Congress's hands entirely. Friedberg offers the episode's most careful legal analysis: Senator Jacob Howard's floor debate transcript during the 14th Amendment's passage explicitly excluded 'foreigners and aliens' from its scope — but the textual reading of the amendment is plain, and that's what the Court applied. Friedberg's personal position: birthright citizenship should apply to permanent legal residents (green card holders), not temporary visitors or people without legal status. Chamath agrees, and Jason argues America has a moral obligation to the 20 million undocumented people it 'waved in' over decades of Republican and Democratic permissiveness, advocating a path to citizenship for long-term, non-criminal residents.
The Supreme Court struck down Trump's birthright citizenship EO 6-3. Friedberg nailed the history: the 14th Amendment was designed to overturn Dred Scott and ensure citizenship for freed slaves' children — not to cover tourists flying in for a delivery weekend. The textual reading says one thing; the original intent says another. Congress has lost its ability to legislate on this entirely.
According to the episode, 255,000 children are born every year in the US to non-citizen parents, which was the population at the center of Trump's Executive Order on birthright citizenship, struck down 6–3 by SCOTUS.
Friedberg's immigration filter is elegantly simple: are you coming here to receive benefits, or to work, create, and generate income? Anyone productive — meaning they create more value than they take in — grows the economy and creates jobs. The zero-sum fear about immigrants taking jobs is empirically false, but the system should be designed to select for makers, not takers.
