MORNING REPORT

Friday, October 30 | By Sarah Fortinsky and Jared Gans

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In today's issue:

▪ GOP divided on birthright citizenship plan

▪ DSA topples another incumbent in Denver

▪ House takes off after SAVE America Act standoff

▪ NPR explains mistaken Alito report

GOP split on path forward after birthright citizenship blow

Republicans on Capitol Hill are divided over the best path forward after the Supreme Court rejected President Trump’s effort to restrict birthright citizenship through his Day 1 executive order.

Chief Justice John Roberts — joined by Justice Amy Coney Barrett and all three liberal justices — wrote for the majority that the 14th Amendment automatically guarantees citizenship for nearly all children born on U.S. soil, even those born to parents living in the country illegally.

They rejected the president’s executive order requiring at least one parent to be a U.S. citizen or have permanent legal status, in a significant blow to Trump’s immigration agenda.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh also voted to block Trump’s order but said he disagreed with the majority opinion.

Trump responded by calling on Congress to pass legislation to end the practice, adding, “No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary!”

But many of Trump’s allies in Congress — especially those with legal backgrounds — broke with the president, saying a constitutional amendment would be required to enact the policy change.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) responded in real time to news of the birthright citizenship decision, saying, “I’m sure that the conclusion from this decision is you have to amend the Constitution to fix that."

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who previously clerked for Justice Samuel Alito, concluded plainly, “We’re going to need a constitutional amendment.”

A number of Republican lawmakers agreed and came armed and ready for the task.

“Ordinary legislation cannot repair the damage. A constitutional amendment is now required,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) said in a post on the social platform X. “Accordingly, I will be announcing a forthcoming constitutional amendment to restore the sacred bond between American citizens and their government.”

Schmitt said Kavanaugh’s separate opinion — in which the associate justice argued Trump’s order was unconstitutional under a 1940 federal statute that codified the court’s understanding of the 14th amendment into law — “MAY have left Congress a door,” adding, “I’m filing legislation to walk through it.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) noted that he “saw this coming” and pointed to the constitutional amendment he filed earlier this year that would grant birthright citizenship only to those with a parent who is a citizen, a legal permanent resident or an active service member lawfully in the U.S.

Several Republicans acknowledged the uphill climb the GOP still has if they want to get a constitutional amendment ratified. Schmitt noted the process is “purposefully difficult,” requiring two-thirds of each congressional chamber and three-quarters of the states to support the move. And Democrats are all but certain to quash the effort.

“It takes 38 states. We’ll never get that. We needed this Supreme Court to have courage,” conservative commentator Megyn Kelly said on X, pushing back on Lee’s call for a constitutional amendment.

Some Republicans are proposing a different approach.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) touted his bill cracking down on so-called “birth tourism,” a term referring to the practice of foreign-born pregnant women intentionally traveling to the U.S. to give birth so their children receive U.S. citizenship.

“One thing we know for sure: foreign nationals are exploiting our laws and undermining our nation’s sovereignty,” Cornyn said on X. “My Barring American Citizenship by Keeping Out Foreign Fraudsters (BACK OFF) Act, which would put a stop to the practice of birth tourism by adversaries like China and Russia, is a good first step.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who’s in line to become the top Republican on , said he would make stopping birth tourism “one of my top priorities" in the role.

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) reposted reporting about a bill introduced by the late Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in 1993, before he was majority leader, that would have eliminated birthright citizenship for children whose parents were in the U.S. illegally.

“I will reintroduce this exact bill when I return to DC,” Moreno wrote on X. “Let’s see how today’s DC Democrats will vote when offered the ideas of the Democrat party that used to love this country and the American people!”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, advocated a more practical approach.

“The best response to the Court's devastatingly wrong ruling on birthright citizenship is more deportations, a more secure border, and more prosecutions of foreign criminals,” Cotton wrote on X. “I will continue to work to give the Admin the resources needed to deport illegals & protect Arkansans.”

FINAL RULINGS: The Supreme Court issued two other rulings on the final decision day of its term. The high court ruled 6-3 that states are permitted to bar transgender female students from competing on girls and women’s sports teams, upholding bans in Idaho and West Virginia.

Kavanaugh, joined by the five other conservative justices, wrote for the majority that schools can determine eligibility for girls and women’s sports based on biological sex, rejecting arguments that transgender restrictions unconstitutionally discriminate on the basis of sex or gender identity.

In a separate decision, the Supreme Court sided with Vice President Vance in ruling that federal limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with their candidates violate the First Amendment’s free-speech protections.

▪ The Hill: Five takeaways from the court’s landmark decision day.

▪ The Hill: The Memo: MAGA winces as court rules on birthright citizenship.

3 Things to Know Today

Trump announced the GOP will hold a midterm convention in Dallas in September, seeking to boost enthusiasm for Republican candidates ahead of the November elections. These types of conventions have been rare but not unheard of, as the Democratic Party held a few midterm conventions in the 1970s and 1980s.
Trump revealed he met with former elections clerk Tina Peters at the White House following her release from prison earlier this month. She had been serving a multiyear sentence for her efforts allowing a conspiracy theorist to access voter machines as part of false claims about the 2020 election. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) commuted her sentence.
The Trump administration lifted restrictions on all of Anthropic’s AI models on Tuesday, after effectively banning commercial use of its Claude Mythos and Claude Fable models. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a letter that Anthropic “has taken steps in close coordination with the U.S. government to address the risks” associated with the models.

LEADING THE DAY

ANOTHER DSA DOMINO: Democratic socialists seized victory in another solidly blue district as former attorney Melat Kiros defeated longtime Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.).

DeGette’s loss makes her the third incumbent House Democrat to lose their primary to a left-wing challenger backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), following Reps. Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat’s defeats last week in New York. Similar to Goldman and Espaillat, DeGette had her own progressive bona fides as a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

DeGette has backed Medicare for All and had the support of fellow progressive members such as Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.).

But Kiros, who is currently a PhD student at the University of Denver, challenged DeGette from the left. She argued she better understands the struggles of the district as a 29-year-old barista who rents her home and attacked the incumbent for accepting corporate PAC money.

Israel was also a major focus in the race, as Kiros had been fired from her law firm after writing a letter in 2023 disputing the idea that calling for Israel to be eliminated is antisemitic. She also faced criticism for refusing to say whether a firebombing directed at a group of people pushing for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza last year was antisemitic.

While DeGette has said she is opposed to most arms sales to Israel except for defensive purposes, Kiros has said she is opposed to all sales.

The party’s establishment wing still notched a clear win Tuesday as Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) fended off a progressive challenge from state Sen. Julie Gonzales (D).

In another upset victory, state Attorney General Phil Weiser (D) defeated Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) in the Democratic primary for governor. With the win, Weiser will be the favorite to succeed term-limited Gov. Jared Polis (D).

Bennet started out the race as the clear favorite, but Weiser sought to attack the senator from the left. Weiser highlighted his experience suing the Trump administration, arguing he has a stronger record of standing up to the president.

Bennet will remain in the Senate, where he is up for reelection in 2028.

▪ The Hill: Key takeaways from Colorado’s primaries.

▪ The Hill: Republican wins primary after Trump endorsement reversal.

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD: House Republicans suffered a blow Tuesday as conservative hard-liners sunk a procedural rule that would have advanced the national defense policy bill and a key voting requirements bill championed by the president.

GOP leadership decided to send members home for the July 4 recess early after the rule failed with no clear path going forward. The chamber won’t return until mid-July.

More than a dozen Republicans joined with all Democrats to vote down the rule that would have teed up debate and final votes on a range of legislation. That included the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act.

The rule included language that would have merged the SAVE America Act with the NDAA, a gambit that Johnson backed to try to satiate hard-liners who have refused to support procedural votes until the Senate passes the voting bill.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who has been leading the SAVE push, noted the Senate could easily strip the voter ID bill out when advancing the NDAA. Luna wants the SAVE America Act attached to the NDAA as an amendment instead of Johnson’s proposal to move them in one package through a process called “MIRVing.”

The rule’s defeat leaves the future of both pieces of legislation uncertain.

▪ The Hill: Anything but SAVE America Act is ‘big yawn’ to Trump.

▪ The Hill: These Republicans voted to block the NDAA rule.

RETURN TO ACTION: Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.) revealed Tuesday that his months-long absence from the House was a result of a depression diagnosis he received earlier this year.

Kean disclosed his health status in a speech on the House floor after months of questions and scrutiny about the congressman’s whereabouts and condition. He had previously signaled that he was dealing with a health condition but wouldn’t elaborate on it, and he hadn’t been seen publicly since early March.

Kean missed more than 100 House votes, and even many of his GOP colleagues said they didn’t know where he was.

“The doctors recommended that I remain in the hospital to address my illness,” Kean said. “They explained to me that this would be the fastest way to recovery, and to be honest, I was hesitant. I didn’t think that I had time for it … Like many people, I believed that I could simply push through.”

“But I agreed to follow my doctor’s recommendations again, not believing that it would result in a long-term stay,” he said.

Kean’s return comes as he’s gearing up for what’s expected to be a contentious reelection battle in one of the country’s top House battleground districts. He’s set to face Democrat Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, in November.

▪ The Hill: Rep. Ritchie Torres sympathizes with Kean, calls for more transparency.

WHEN & WHERE

The president will depart the White House to travel to Medora, N.D., where he will participate in a Freedom 250 train ride and welcome ceremony at 1:10 p.m. EDT. He will participate in a tour of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library at 1:45 p.m. EDT and deliver remarks at the Burning Hills Amphitheatre at 3:15 p.m. EDT. Later, he will return to the White House.
The House and Senate are out today.

ZOOM IN

BRACING FOR NOVEMBER: Democrats are stepping up their efforts to ensure the upcoming midterms are secure as they express increasing concern the Trump administration may try to influence the outcome through nefarious means.

Last week, Senate Democrats called on the administration to retain all election-related records tied to the midterms and launched a program to train congressional staff as election observers to “protect against any meddling.”

“There will be an all-out assault on our election process,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told MS NOW last week. “It’s already starting, but we’re also preparing, and in support of the American public, are prepared for it as well.”

Trump has pushed for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, arguing it’s necessary to ensure the midterms are secure. But Democrats say the legislation would prevent some eligible voters who don’t have the required documentation from casting ballots.

Trump has also railed against the validity on mail-in voting, saying the SAVE America Act is even more important following the Supreme Court’s ruling that allowed states to count ballots postmarked by Election Day but received after it.

Electoral experts told The Hill’s Julia Mueller that the fighting shows how politicized elections and the process have become.

“The idea that elections have to be protected from the federal government, as opposed to being protected by the federal government, shows you just how much our democracy has deteriorated,” said Richard Hasen, an election law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

▪ USA Today: States don’t expect federal government to reliably share election threats.

ELSEWHERE

TORN OVER ISRAEL: Democrats are set to face a litmus test on the contentious issue of U.S. funding for Israel, revealing the growing divisions within the party on the country’s relationship with its longstanding ally.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a fiscal hawk, has sponsored an amendment to the appropriations bill for the State Department and national security that would cut U.S. funding to Israel.

The amendment, which states that none of the act’s funds will be made available for Israel and lowers the bill’s overall spending by $3.3 billion, was expected to receive a vote on the House floor this week before House members were sent home early.

Democrats held a caucus meeting Tuesday to discuss how members should handle Massie’s amendment, and leaders told members to vote with their conscience, The Hill’s Laura Kelly and Sudiksha Kochi report.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said the conversations during the meeting focused on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership and the strongly negative views that Democratic voters, especially young voters, have of him.

“I’ve been around a long time, never seen it,” he said of the sentiments.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who opposes the amendment and called it “poorly drafted,” said the conversations were “all over the place.” Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) said no one yelled at the meeting and people were “very cogent.”

The amendment is expected to fail with widespread GOP opposition to it, but it will illustrate the Democrats’ split on Israel.

▪ The Hill: New York primaries spur calls for AOC to challenge Chuck Schumer.

▪ The Hill: Schumer, Elizabeth Warren locked in battle over party’s future.

OPINION

Venezuela’s earthquakes are a somber warning for US preparedness, Kelley McKinney writes in The Hill.
We’re finally turning the tide on suicide rates. Don’t pull back now, Allison Arwady and J. Nadine Gracia write in The Hill.

THE CLOSER

And finally … Supreme Court watchers were sent on a breaking news rollercoaster Tuesday morning soon after the last rulings of the term were released, when NPR reported that Justice Samuel Alito would be retiring.

The story was quickly retracted, and a spokesperson for the Supreme Court said neither the court nor Alito had announced his retirement. But the story’s brief publication renewed speculation about whether Alito, 76, would step down.

NPR editor-in-chief Tommy Evans said in a statement that the story was published “due to a misunderstanding.” Nina Totenberg, a longtime legal reporter who wrote the story, explained what caused the confusion during an appearance on NPR’s “All Things Considered” Tuesday afternoon.

Observers have speculated that Alito, one of the court’s staunchest conservatives, may step down now with Trump in office and a Republican-controlled Senate. Justices have often announced their retirements on the last day of the term.

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