'Took my breath away': Expert flags 'precarious situation' Supreme Court just created

A law expert warned on Wednesday that the Supreme Court's decisions this week — and its reluctance to conclusively resolve central constitutional issues — should concern Americans.

Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman discussed the high court's major decisions and "blockbuster term" during a Substack video and conversation with Melissa Murray, NYU Law professor and co-host of Strict Scrutiny. They focused on the potential ramifications connected to the birthright citizenship case and questions that remain following the ruling.

"They’ve done the right thing and stood up for the court’s right to citizenship, but they could have done it a year ago," Murray said. "So, you know, I guess points for reading. No points for taking a year to read."

"The second thing I will say is that it took my breath away how close this opinion was; we are one vote away from rescinding the 14th Amendment, and people should understand that for what it is," Murray added. "That is a precarious, precarious situation, especially if we are in a situation where we may see a vacancy on the court, where we may be in a position to install right-wing teenagers on the court. I don’t know. I don’t know who’s next for this president, but we are one vote away from undoing the 14th Amendment."

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a concurrence, dissenting in part, stating that although the executive order under President Donald Trump violated a federal statute, he suggested that the 14th Amendment does not actually prohibit Congress from stripping birthright citizenship from children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants.

"He’s also noted that birthright citizenship has been statutorily authorized and that Congress could, and maybe in the future, will decide whether or not to rescind that and that it’s not a constitutional question," Murray explained. "That’s a huge thing for him to just put in a concurrence. It is an invitation for future activism and advocacy on this question. So this is not a settled question. And that goes back to the first point I made. This court could have settled this once and for all a year ago by saying, here is what the 14th Amendment says."

But that didn't happen.

"Instead, they’ve allowed it to fester and percolate," Murray said. "They’ve made it seem unsettled. And now Brett Kavanaugh has opened a window for the right-wing ... to run in, perhaps agitate for some kind of congressional action on this case. And maybe we will be rescinding birthright citizenship by statute in a few years. This is all to say, this is not in the clear. We are not in the clear. This is not over. And everyone should understand that."