Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-303_6khn.pdf
Page Number: 23

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

15 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

citizenship,” according to Charles Sumner, is “equality be-
fore the law.”  Cong. Globe, 42d Cong., 2d Sess., 384 (1872).6 
The Citizenship Clause’s conferral of the “dignity and glory 
of American citizenship” may well prohibit the Federal Gov-
ernment from denying citizens equality with respect to civil 
rights.  Rather  than  continue  to  invoke  the  Fifth  Amend-
ment’s Due Process Clause to justify Bolling, in an appro-
priate case, we should more carefully consider whether this
interpretation of the Citizenship Clause would yield a sim-
ilar, and more supportable, result. 

—————— 

6 Sumner continued: “Ceasing to be a slave the former victim has be-
come not only a man, but a citizen, admitted alike within the pale of hu-
manity and within the pale of citizenship.  As a man he is entitled to all 
the rights of man, and as a citizen he becomes a member of our common 
household with equality as the prevailing law. . . . Whatever he may have 
been,  he  is  now  the  same  as  ourselves.  Our  rights  are  his  rights;  our 
equality is his equality; our privileges and immunities are his great pos-
session.”  Cong. Globe, 42d Cong., 2d Sess., 385.