Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, August 31, 2026 Non-AI Real World News
Should foreign-born federal judges be ruling on major cases such as ensuring only American citizens vote in federal elections and birthright citizenship?
Critics and some Republican lawmakers say lifetime judicial appointments should be reserved for native-born citizens to ensure “undivided allegiance” to the United States. These calls grew louder after specific naturalized judges, such as U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, issued high-profile rulings that blocked state or federal measures such as voter citizenship checks.
Another foreign born judge, 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals Judge John Lee, recently ruled that the First Amendment protects child porn if AI was used to create it, The Post Millennial reported on Aug. 29.
Lee, who was born in Germany and grew up in South Korea, wrote in his ruling: “Given the relentless advancement in artificial intelligence models, we have some concerns about the lines these cases draw, but we are not free to redraw them ourselves.”
South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace introduced a joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to require members of Congress, federal judges, and Senate-confirmed federal officers to be natural-born U.S. citizens
Opponents of such moves say the Framers of the Constitution deliberately chose to require natural-born citizenship only for the presidency, intentionally omitting the requirement for judges and lawmakers.
Kyle Reves, owner of Law Enforcement Today, Blue Lives Matter, and The Police Tribune, noted in a post to social media:
“Biden seated two foreign-born judges on the D.C. federal court, and one still listed dual Canadian citizenship!!! And they are making decisions on citizenship?!?!
“Judge Amir Hatem Mahdy Ali sits on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was born in Kingston, Ontario, in 1985 to Egyptian parents.”
The Washington Post reported that Ali’s 2024 Senate questionnaire listed dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship and that he became an American citizen in 2019. Biden nominated him. The Senate confirmed him 50-49 on Nov. 20, 2024, after the election.
Ali, who took the seat vacated by Beryl Howell, clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada. He is the first Muslim and first Arab American judge on the D.C. court. He later ordered the Trump Administration to keep paying out frozen USAID funds.
Sooknanan was born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, in 1983. She became a U.S. citizen in 2009. Biden nominated her. The Senate confirmed her 50-48 on Dec. 3, 2024.
“She told Sen. Lindsey Graham she would drop Trinidad citizenship if the law required it. Critics, including Sen. Eric Schmitt and Rep. Nancy Mace, say there is still no public proof she finished that break,” Reves noted.
“In June 2026 she blocked DHS from using the SAVE system to help states check voter citizenship, writing that the government had ‘trampled on the privacy rights of U.S. citizens.’ ”
Reves continued: “Neither seat requires a natural-born citizen. Both are lifetime jobs on the court that handles a huge share of nationwide fights with the White House. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton recommended both.
“Ask why a judge who can freeze an American president’s orders should keep a second country’s passport. Then ask Congress why that is still legal.”
On the AI-child porn issue, Lee cited Supreme Court decisions from 1969 and 2002, including one ruling that individuals have a right to possess obscene material in their own homes and another holding that “virtual” child sexual abuse material that does not depict a real child is not considered child pornography.
Writing for The Post Millennial, Hayden Cunningham noted: “The ruling comes amid a broader debate over AI’s growing ability to generate highly realistic images, including images based on the likenesses of real people. The Supreme Court has previously addressed the issue of ‘morphing,’ in which images of real people are digitally altered to depict them in sexual situations. Such materials are an exception to the protections of earlier cases and may be treated as child sexual abuse material.”
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