In the final day of its term, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decisions on two major cases: one on birthright citizenship, and the other on transgender athletes' participation in school sports.
The final results are a mixed bag. While President Donald Trump lost his bid to unilaterally overturn birthright citizenship, the court ruled to allow states to ban transgender athletes from participating in sports according to their identity.
The ACLU has been involved in both immigrant issues and transgender rights in connection to these cases. To learn more about the impact of these decisions, HPR spoke with Wookie Kim, the legal director of the ACLU of Hawaiʻi.
Interview Highlights
On the decision to uphold birthright citizenship
WOOKIE KIM: We were very, very pleased to see that the Supreme Court rejected Trump's attempt to basically rewrite the Constitution. This is a really foundational principle. Birthright citizenship is extremely important, and it ensures that the government doesn't have the ability to pick and choose who has rights and who is a citizen within our country. … Citizenship is, again, it's a foundational concept, and it endows so many rights. And so for the president to try and take that away, in opposition to how courts and our society has interpreted the birthright citizenship concept, that was really alarming. And what the court did today was to protect that.
On the decision to ban transgender students from school sports
KIM: We're very disappointed that the Supreme Court essentially ruled that states can ban transgender girls from school athletics. But one thing that's really important to know is that the decision does not change on the ground circumstances here in Hawaiʻi, because as you may know, about five, six years ago, Hawaiʻi passed a state version of Title IX that expressly prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity. And beyond that, (Hawaiʻi Department of Education) policy, all the major school athletics policies are trans-inclusive policies. So at the end of the day, this is a ruling that allows other jurisdictions and other school districts to implement discriminatory policies, but the decision doesn't directly impact Hawaiʻi, at least right now.
On the impact of the Supreme Court rulings
KIM: To the extent that we are frustrated and disappointed about these rulings, I think it's really important to speak up in kind of the smaller ponds. Meaning whether it's the state Legislature, whether it's the school board, there are so many different ways that we can make a difference and to change policies in the way that we want. And we shouldn't have to rely on nine people in Washington, D.C. determining our fate or our future. And so if you're disappointed with today's ruling, there are other ways to prevent these outcomes in the future.
This story aired on The Conversation on June 30, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
