30 JUN 26 SITREP

• The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against President Trump's executive order to limit birthright citizenship, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan in the majority.
• Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, writing that the 14th Amendment was enacted after the Civil War with the purpose of securing citizenship for freed slaves and arguing the majority repurposed the amendment for preferred outcomes not contemplated by the Reconstruction Congress.
• Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a concurrence stating the executive order does not violate the 14th Amendment but instead conflicts with federal statute 18 USC 1401(a), indicating Congress could pass legislation rather than pursue a constitutional amendment to create exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to foreign nationals unlawfully or temporarily in the country.
• Mike Davis of the Article 3 Project said the ruling extends birthright citizenship to children of illegal aliens, including Chinese birth tourists, Tren de Aragua, and MS-13, and compared the decision to the Dred Scott ruling, while Senator Jim Banks of Indiana said he would pursue legislation or a constitutional amendment to ban birthright citizenship ahead of the midterm elections.

• The Supreme Court combined two cases, Little v. Hecox out of Idaho and West Virginia v. BPJ out of West Virginia, with Idaho's law enacted in 2020 barring biological male athletes from women's and girls' sports in public schools, and West Virginia's law enacted in 2021 barring biological males from women's teams in public secondary schools and colleges.
• Justice Brett Kavanaugh delivered the opinion, ruling that Title IX allows schools to separate sports based on biological sex and that West Virginia and Idaho did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
• Kavanaugh wrote that allowing biological males to compete on female teams raises injury risk in contact sports and can displace female athletes from rosters, starting lineups, playing time, and medals, noting that 27 states along with the NCAA, the USOPC, and the IOC already draw the same biological-sex line.
• The Idaho case was brought by Lindsay Hecox, who sought to join the women's track and cross-country teams at Boise State University, and the West Virginia case was brought on behalf of BPJ, a 15-year-old high school student, after which President Trump called the ruling a win on Truth Social.

• Senator Jim Banks passed an amendment in markup before the Senate Armed Services Committee to uphold Pentagon policies under Secretary Pete Hegseth banning pronoun use in emails and prohibiting DEI from being used in military promotions, passing on a party-line vote with every Republican in favor and every Democrat opposed.
• Banks said the amendment builds on one he passed last year and is intended to strip DEI language out of federal law enacted under President Biden so it cannot be reinstated by a future Democratic administration.
• Secretary Hegseth ordered the removal of General Mark Milley's portrait from the Pentagon and worked to remove holdovers and policies associated with Milley.
• Banks also passed a measure in committee, with 2 Democrats on the Armed Services Committee voting in favor, requiring military academies including the Naval Academy, West Point, and the Air Force Academy to accept the Classic Learning Test alongside the SAT and ACT as a college entrance exam.