I Wish I Were Making This Up but I'm Not

From the Fascist Supremes and the 18th Century British High Court of Chancery to the Online Moderators of 50501

That’s me speaking at a 50501 rally last February

Friends, you must read the following brilliant and spine-chilling analysis of the illegitimate and fascist US Supreme Court’s horrific ruling yesterday against the federal judiciary’s ability to block Trump’s neo-Confederate assault on the core constitutional right of birthright citizenship (and numerous other human and civil rights):

Elie Mystal, “The Supreme Court’s Birthright Citizenship Ruling Is a 5-Alarm Catastrophe,” The Nation, June 27, 2025, https://www.thenation.com/article/society/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship-ruling-trump-v-casa/

Some key passages:

‘The decision means that some courts, districts, and states will still defend the concept of birthright citizenship, while others will not. That could mean that whether or not a child born in America on or after June 27, 2025, is considered a citizen of the United States will depend on what state, or even county, that child happens to be born in. If that setup sounds familiar, it should. It is exactly how this country determined citizenship from June 21, 1788, (when the Constitution was ratified) until July 9, 1868 (when the 14th Amendment was ratified). The idea that citizenship depends on which state recognizes your citizenship has literally been tried before in this country, with Black people and Native Americans having citizenship rights in some states and… not in others. We have already fought over this. It was called the Civil War. We resolved this issue; it’s called the first section of the 14th Amendment. We have tried doing citizenship the Confederate way and realized it was an error.

But that antebellum, neo-Confederate structure is what the Supreme Court brings back to us today. It’s fashionable to say that the court’s ruling is not really about birthright citizenship, because the legal question focused on the power to issue nationwide injunctions. But that sanewashing of the court’s opinion does not survive its first contact with reality. By taking away the ability of courts to enter nationwide injunctions in this case, the court is giving Trump carte blanche to violate the constitutional definition of citizenship in any district where a friendly Trump judge will allow him to. And, in practice, this ruling will extend to every other single issue where Trump has been stopped thanks to a nationwide injunction. Right on cue, Trump signaled today that he intends to move ahead with a slew of agenda items “that have been wrongly enjoined on a nationwide basis,” including policies targeting trans children, refugees, immigrants, and, yes, birthright citizenship….

…This opinion is about birthright citizenship, and more broadly about letting Trump yank us back to the 1850s without hindrance; claiming it’s only about nationwide injunctions is like claiming that the tail wags the dog.

To get to the point where she can return us to the state-by-state determination of citizenship practiced during the enslaver period of this country, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who wrote the majority opinion for the Republicans, argues that nationwide injunctions should never be a thing. Her principal reasoning for this is… [from] the High Court of Chancery in England, which existed at the time of the adoption of the Constitution. I wish I were making that up, but I’m not nearly creative enough to do it. Barrett, and the rest of her Republican colleagues, determined that nationwide injunctions cannot be used in 2025 to stop a president from violating the Constitution of the United States, because the High Court in England—which existed during a time of hereditary monarchy—did not use a historical equivalent of a nationwide injunction to enforce the laws against [checks notes] their King.”

Holy shit.

It’s about a lot more than birthright citizenship, of course. Here are some of the other sick Trump actions that have been given new life now that the Trump-crafted high fash court has massively rolled back federal district judges’ capacity to block Trump’s fascist orders on a national scale:

• A White House order requiring stricter voter ID requirements at the polls, including proof of citizenship

• Trump’s freeze of $3 trillion in federal funding to the states so the spending can be “reviewed for alignment with administration policies.”

• The Trump anti-Education Department’s demand that public schools eliminate DEI programs or give up their share of $75 billion in federal funding.

• Trump’s freezing of $2 billion in congressionally appropriated foreign aid flowing through the State Department and U.S.A.I.D.

It’s no wonder that “king” (try Fuhrer) Trump hailed yesterday’s Trump v. CASA ruling as a great victory. It is a major defeat for those trying to use federal courts and the constitutional power of judicial review to block Trump and Stephen Miller’s vile campaign to makeover US society and government on white supremacist, xenophobic, patriarchal and dictatorial — that is, fascist — lines.

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Here’s another and different kind of “I wish I was making this up but I’m not” story for you…

Recently on its Reddit page, the leftish protest group 50501 banned a member of Refuse Fascism (RF) from its online forum (r/50501) after he posted an announcement of RF’s protest of the Supreme Court’s Trump v CASA ruling.

Here’s what the RF member put up:

The moderator(s) of r/50501 quickly informed the RF activist that “You have been permanently banned from r/50501 because your comment violated this community’s rules.”

I am not making that up.

50501 then explained this:

“Note from the moderators: Please note that 50501 does not work with Refuse Fascism by any Revcom group as our goals are diametrically opposed.”

I am not making this up. Here it is:

Wow.

Let’s stop and reflect on four things relating to the putrid toxicity of this action and language on “the left” and what it says about 50501’s online “leadership”:

+1. No decent and serious progressive US organization would consider it an inappropriate violation of community standards for an established anti-fascist group to post a brief announcement of an emergency protest of a Supreme Court decision that helps Donald Trump consolidate fascist rule in the United States!

+2. RF is not “a Revcom group” and it is neo-McCarthyite red-baiting and COINTELPRO-like demonization to claim that it is. The group’s initiators, leaders, and members include revolutionary communists (members of the Revolutionary Community Party/Revcoms), yes, but the group includes people of other and diverse perspectives and backgrounds including non-communists and even anti-communists, consistent with its determination to bring together any and all people who: (a) oppose what the Trump fascist regime is doing to America and the world and (b) refuse to accept a fascist America.

+3. Refuse Fascism has two top slogans: “In the name of humanity we refuse to accept a fascist America” and “Trump Must Go Now.” Refuse Fascism’s top two intimately related and clearly stated goals are (i) to organize millions to block the consolidation of fascist rule in the US and (ii) to force the removal of Donald Trump from power.

50501’s online moderators saying that 50501 is “diametrically opposed” to Refuse Fascism’s goals amounts to them saying (i) that “50501 is dedicated to the consolidation of fascist rule in the USA” & (ii) “50501 is dedicated to the fascist leader Donald Trump’s persistent hold on executive power in the world’s most powerful and dangerous nation.”

I doubt seriously that 50501 wants to go on record with those goals as its mission!

+4. The Revolutionary Communist Party’ (Revcoms’) officially stated goal is to “emancipate humanity” through a revolutionary process meant to “bring into being a whole new world, without exploitation and oppression.”

50501’s online moderators saying that 50501 is “diametrically opposed” to the Revcoms’ clearly stated goals amounts to them saying that “50501 is dedicated to keeping humanity enslaved in the old and ongoing world of exploitation and oppression.”

I doubt seriously that 50501 wants to go on record with those goals as its mission!

Merriam-Wester Online, definition of “diametrically opposed:” “completely opposed : being at opposite extremes. in diametric contradiction to his claims. two parties in diametric opposition on the issue. diametrically.”

For what it’s worth, I as a Refuse Fascism member have had very friendly relations with in-real-life 50501 members and activists in Chicago and Iowa City. The ones I know want nothing to do with this sort of vicious, putrid, divisive, and anti-communist nonsense on the part of the group’s national online “moderators.” I strongly encourage decent 50501 members and followers to contact that organization’s leadership and call out this putrid and destructive behavior on the part of the group’s online “moderators.”