103 Years Ago Today, the Supreme Court Decided Who Got to Be American — and Got It Catastrophically Wrong
On February 19, 1923, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind that declared South Asians ineligible for U.S. citizenship. Nine unelected judges, in a single decision, stripped the legal standing of an entire people from the fabric of American law — and their ruling set off a cascade of consequences that ruined businesses, seized property, and drove at least one man to his death. Today is the 103rd anniversary of that decision. It deserves to be remembered — not just as a historical injustice, but as a precise illustration of why unchecked judicial power is dangerous, why the Court’s institutional consensus is no guarantee of moral correctness, and why structural reform is not optional. ...