MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Supreme Court hears arguments on birthright citizenship later this week. A Trump administration executive order says the children of migrants born in the U.S. are not automatically citizens, changing what was thought to be long settled law. So far, that move has been blocked by lower courts. Nearly 60 religious groups have weighed in supporting birthright citizenship. Joining us to talk about those arguments is NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Jason, good morning.
JASON DEROSE, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So let's start with the brief from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. What did they say?
DEROSE: Well, Michel, the bishops make historical, legal and religious arguments to support birthright citizenship. They quote the 14th Amendment, which says all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States. And they say the idea of birthright citizenship has its origins dating back to both Roman law and English common law.
MARTIN: But what are the bishops' religious arguments?
DEROSE: Well, they write that birthright citizenship is consistent with Catholic church teaching that every human has inherent dignity. And they say the church teaches that public authorities, in order to be legitimate, must affirm and protect that human dignity. The bishops also say that the government should help smaller, more immediate communities, particularly the family, and denying citizenship to children born in the U.S. strips parents of the right to secure their children's place in society. That increases the chance that children will become stateless, meaning they're neither citizens of the U.S. nor their parents' home countries. And, Michel, so many rights derive from people being citizens of somewhere.
MARTIN: But, Jason, you were telling us that there's actually been some pushback against the bishops.
DEROSE: Right. Some say the bishops should not be making religious arguments to the Supreme Court. Among them is Michael Fragoso at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, which is a conservative religious think tank.
MICHAEL FRAGOSO: Those questions of Catholic theology and Catholic philosophy do not necessarily have the same applicability in the courts. I think there's a misconception that everything that happens in the courts is really just policy with legalese thrown on top of it.
DEROSE: Fragoso points out that the bishops cite the Bible and theologians, such as Aquinas and Augustine, far more than legal cases or the U.S. Constitution in their brief. And some others have argued that what might be going on is that the bishops are writing specifically to the six Catholic justices, appealing to their religious beliefs rather than legal arguments.
MARTIN: And other religious groups have weighed in on this case as well. What have they said?
DEROSE: Well, a broad coalition of 57 religious organizations - Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and others - also filed a friend of the court brief. Their argument revolves around what they call the universal value of welcoming the stranger. They cite the Torah, the New Testament, the Quran, the Upanishads, other religious texts. And they argue America has long been a haven for those seeking to practice their religion freely.
Many of the people who migrated here, Michel, during the colonial era - Catholics, Quakers, Puritans - did so to escape religious oppression back in Europe. And they cite recent data from the Department of Homeland Security that shows one of the top reasons people migrate to the U.S. is that they're being religiously persecuted elsewhere. So this brief ties the idea of birthright citizenship in the 14th Amendment to the idea of religious liberty found in the First Amendment.
MARTIN: That is NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Jason, thank you.
DEROSE: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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