Season 6, Episode 10 (Show 271): Created to Born to Barbara

March 25, 2026

We take a detour to Garden City, NY, to meet with amazing high school students who discuss Born Equal with us, and in the process, shed more light on the road to birthright citizenship, in the process helping to bring the forthcoming oral argument into focus.

CLE Credit Available for this episode from podcast.njsba.com.

Akhil and Andy visit a high school in Garden City, NY, to speak with outstanding high school students about Born Equal.  In the process, we trace one of America’s great credos – “All Men Are Created Equal” – from the Founding, all the way to Lincoln – and beyond, to the fourteenth amendment; and finally to birthright citizenship and next week’s momentous Supreme Court case, Trump v. Barbara.  The students’ great questions help show the way.

(LAWYERS AND JUDGES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION CREDIT by visiting podcast.njsba.com after listening.)

Show Notes:

How to get Continuing Legal Education Credit for listening!

Virtually all lawyers and judges admitted to practice anywhere in the USA can obtain CLE (Continuing Legal Education) credit after listening to this episode by visiting podcast.njsba.com.  You do not have to be a New Jersey lawyer or resident or admitted to the NJ Bar; essentially every state has reciprocity arrangements with New Jersey.  When you visit the site you fill out a form and provide the code Andy read during the episode, pay a small fee, and within two weeks you will receive the certificate from New Jersey.  It couldn’t be easier.  Thanks to the New Jersey Bar Association for making this possible!  Note, too, that other podcast episodes from our “back catalog” now qualify for this credit as well.

Click to go to the website for CLE credit

Lincoln's Lesson on Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order - time.com

We discuss, among other things, the title of this episode, namely the road from All Men are Created Equal to Born Equal.  So how do we get from Trump v. Barbara?  Anyway, detours aside, Professor Amar goes into greater depth on this journey in this 2025 piece.

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More on Pete Patterson’s claims - SCOTUSblog

In the run-up to oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara, all sorts of pundits make arguments, of varying quality.  Here, a reply to Professor Amar’s earlier response to one such argument is disposed of.

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Reading the text and sidestepping the parent trap - SCOTUSblog

Originalism is perhaps a superset of textualism, but the text certainly matters.  And it is a fundamental failure of many who have weighed in on the Trump v. Barbara case that they have not grappled with the plain meaning – and the plain omissions – of the text of the 14th Amendment.  Instead, they have attempted to append the amendment with all sorts of contorted policy-based exceptions that have no textual basis whatsoever.  Here, the Professors Amar show this in the plain light of day.  To date, no refutation of these arguments have appeared anywhere, which leads one to ask – why isn’t the case over when one reads the Constitution?

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