Think More: Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Birthright citizenship survives at the Court, DOJ presses tuition suits, the Left’s long road continues, voters still name the economy first, and more.
Lead · The Last Day of the Term
The Court Strikes Down Trump’s Bid to Limit Birthright Citizenship
Supreme Court of the United States | supremecourt.gov
In Trump v. Barbara, a 6-3 Court rejected the executive order that would have denied citizenship to children born here to parents unlawfully or temporarily present. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts held that the Fourteenth Amendment codifies the common-law rule of jus soli: birth on American soil, subject to its laws, confers citizenship. Justice Kavanaugh concurred in the judgment; Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissented.
The Last Day of the Term
The Term Ends: a Birthright Loss, a Women’s-Sports Win, a Campaign-Finance Win
John Hinderaker reads the term as mixed. Alongside the birthright defeat, the Court held 6-3 in West Virginia v. B.J.P. that schools may limit girls’ sports to girls, and struck campaign-finance limits on party spending coordinated with candidates. His sharpest note: the three Democratic appointees voted as a bloc in nearly every partisan case.
After the Loss, Republicans Eye a Legislative Path on Birthright Citizenship
With the executive order struck down, Just the News reports that congressional Republicans have a fallback. The Birthright Citizenship Act, introduced by Rep. Brian Babin and Sen. Lindsey Graham, would amend immigration law to grant citizenship only to children with a citizen or lawful-permanent-resident parent. Other bills target the foreign birth-tourism industry.
The Justice Department Presses
Justice Sues Massachusetts and Rhode Island Over Tuition Breaks for Illegal Immigrants
U.S. Department of Justice | justice.gov
The Justice Department’s Civil Division filed complaints against Massachusetts and Rhode Island, arguing their in-state tuition and scholarship benefits for illegal immigrants discriminate against U.S. citizens and conflict with federal law. The filings are the 12th in a national campaign; four earlier suits have already won orders striking similar laws down.
Arizona’s Senator Gallego Faces a Federal Campaign-Finance Probe
Kevin Killough | Just the News
Sen. Ruben Gallego, the Arizona Democrat, is under federal investigation for alleged campaign-finance violations, prompted by a California whistleblower’s complaint. Reporting cited by Just the News alleges he used a political action committee to fund family trips to Disneyland, Disney World, Miami, and Chicago. Gallego denies wrongdoing and calls the probe a partisan attack.
The Left’s Long Road
A Former Leftist Traces a Line From Cancel Culture to Socialism
Sasha Stone | Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning
Sasha Stone, who left the Left, argues that the same cancel-culture machinery that once policed dissent has matured into something harder: a Democratic Party pulled toward socialism by activists who now turn on their own. She reads the Democratic Socialists’ New York primary victories as the logical end of that long decade.
Steven Hayward: The Left’s Derangement Predates Trump and Will Outlast Him
Steven F. Hayward | Claremont Review of Books
In the summer Claremont Review of Books, Steven Hayward argues that the Left’s derangement is neither new nor really about Trump. Opening with Woody Allen’s Annie Hall and the old quarrels of Commentary, Dissent, and Partisan Review, he traces a left-wing intellectual culture whose unhappiness with America long predates the present moment.
Records Show Biden’s LGBTQI Envoy Sought to Embed Gender Policy Across U.S. Diplomacy
Center to Advance Security in America | advancing-america.org
Emails obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request by the Center to Advance Security in America, and reported by the Washington Free Beacon, document how Jessica Stern, the Biden administration’s special envoy for LGBTQI+ persons, sought to integrate gay and transgender priorities throughout American diplomacy. The role, created under Obama, sat vacant during Trump’s first term.
The Soul and the Standard
Daniel Mahoney: A Social Science That Forgot the Soul
Daniel J. Mahoney | The American Mind
Daniel Mahoney argues that the human sciences have flattened the person, reducing us to utility-maximizers, conditioned animals, or bundles of race, class, and gender. Drawing on the sociologist Christian Smith, he notes the self-refuting trick: the theorists always exempt themselves from their own determinism. The remedy is a social science reacquainted with philosophy and theology.
New York Drops Its Graduation Exam Without Saying What Replaces It
Jennifer Weber & Ray Domanico | City Journal
New York will stop requiring students to pass Regents exams to graduate, beginning with the class entering in 2027, awarding diplomas instead for “demonstrated readiness” the state has yet to define. Writing in City Journal, Jennifer Weber and Ray Domanico warn that a standard means nothing without common tasks, shared rubrics, and outside review.
The Mood of the Country
Amid the Court Drama, Voters Keep Their Eyes on the Economy
Scott Rasmussen | Napolitan News Service
Asked in their own words to name the country’s most important problem, 36% of voters point to the economy, far ahead of anything else, in a new Napolitan News Service survey. Worry about foreign affairs has cooled sharply: the combined share naming foreign policy, Iran, or war has fallen 17 points since April, to 14%.
What voters call the nation’s top problem: Napolitan News Service, 1,000 voters, June 22-23
36%
Name the economy
14%
Foreign policy, Iran, or war
11%
Name politics
