A Chronological Reader’s Guide To The Opinions In Trump v. Barbara

Trump v. Barbara is very long. The entire slip opinion totals nearly two-hundred pages. However, Chief Justice Roberts’s majority opinion is stunningly short for the occasion. It stretches only twenty-six pages. Justice Jackson wrote a twenty-page concurrence that largely responded to Justice Thomas’s dissent. Justice Kavanaugh wrote an opinion concurring in the judgment and dissenting in part that spanned ten pages. Justice Thomas’s dissent, joined by Justice Gorsuch, stretches ninety-one pages. He left no stone unturned. Justice Alito wrote a solo dissent that stretched thirty-nine pages. Finally, Justice Gorsuch rounded out the pack with a solo dissent that was (thankfully) only three pages.

Reading through the entire opinion from start to finish is a daunting experience. I completed the task over the weekend (fittingly in the City of Brotherly Love on the 250th anniversary of independence).

Perhaps the hardest part of this decision is keeping all of the threads together. The Justices discuss different parts of the case in different sections in different orders, making it hard to remember who lines up where.

Here, I will offer something of a reader’s guide to the opinion in a chronological fashion the majority and dissenting opinions. I break the cases down into eight primary time periods. I will use the Section labels from the opinions, except for Part V, where the Chief didn’t use any subsections.

What stands out most is how quickly Chief Justice Roberts moved through each period, and how much time Justice Thomas dwelled on each. To illustrate the trend, I measured Roberts’s opinions in paragraph-length, and Thomas’s in page-length. I will have much more to say about this case. This is just a teaser.

Period #1: The English common law before independence

Majority: II-A (4 paragraphs); V (*17-*20)

Thomas: IV-A-1 (3 pages)

Alito: I-A (2 pages)

Period #2: The law in America between independence and the ratification of the Constitution

Majority: II-A (3 paragraphs)

Thomas: IV-A-2 (3 pages)

Period #3: The law in America between the ratification of the Constitution and Dred Scott

Majority: II-B (1 paragraphs)

Thomas: I-A (4 pages); I-B (8 pages)

Alito: I-A (5 pages)

Period #4: Dred Scott and its aftermath

Majority: II-B (3 paragraphs)

Thomas: I-C (5 pages)

Alito: I-B (2 pages)

Period #5: The Civil Rights Act of 1866

Majority: II-C (4 paragraphs); V (*20, *23-24) (3 paragraphs)

Thomas: I-D-1 (3 pages)

Alito: II-A (2 pages)

Period #6: The adoption and ratification of Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment

Majority: III (10 paragraphs); V (*20-*21) (2 paragraphs)

Thomas: I-D-2 (5 pages); III-A (7 pages)

Alito: II-B (9 pages)

Period #7: Understanding of Citizenship Clause from 1868 to Wong Kim Ark

Majority: IV-A (4 paragraphs); V (*21-22) (2 paragraphs)

Thomas: I-E-1, I-E-2 (10 pages); III-B (4 pages)

Alito – III (2 pages)

Period #8: Wong Kim Ark

Majority: IV-B (6 paragraphs); V (*24-*25) (1 paragraph)

Thomas: I-E-3, I-E-4 (7 pages); IV-A-3 (4 pages)

Alito – III (6 pages)