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One World with Zain Asher
AG Bondi: Birthright Citizenship Case Will Be Decided In October; U.S. Supreme Court Gives Trump Big Win On Nationwide Injunctions; Preserving Our Dark Skies; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired June 27, 2025 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:00]
(TRUMP ADMIN OFFICIALS SPEAK AFTER SUPREME COURT RULINGS)
[12:40:00]
ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: You have been listening there for the past, well, almost one hour to President Trump addressing the media. Following, of
course, the Supreme Court's decision to back President Trump's efforts to curtail the lower court orders that have been hampering his agenda for
months.
He called it a monumental victory, a decision based on common sense. And then he said that he'll promptly file to advance policies backed by the
judges talking about ending birthright citizenship, refugee settlement, transgender surgeries, and so forth.
So, let's first talk about what we've just heard. And there was a lot covered here. But I want to focus on what President called a monumental
victory from the Supreme Court. Jeff Swartz is a professor at Thomas M. Cooley Law School. And he's former Miami-Dade County Court judge, who joins
me now live from Tampa in Florida.
Great to have you with us, Jeff. There was a lot to take on. Let's start off first with what he said. You know, this is a great win for them. After
the Supreme Court, of course, ruled on these injunctions. A lot of attacks are on the Supreme Court prior to this ruling.
[12:45:06]
But I'm -- I'm keen to get your take on some of the questions. He was asked at one point. And I think it was Pam Bondi was asked, who will be tasked
with checking citizenship? So the details of what happens next. How will this will actually play out?
And no decision, no read detail on this.
JEFF SWARTZ, FORMER MIAMI-DADE COUNTY COURT JUDGE: No.
SOARES: What did you take away?
SWARTZ: What I take away is that they've bought 30 days actually to come up with a plan. And, of course, with Mr. Trump, it's always two weeks. But
they will come up with a plan.
It had -- what he wants to do has been done in the past. This is -- we go back into the early 20th century. And if you cannot establish your
citizenship, and that is that the people who bore you or citizens, he's going to say, you don't -- you're not an American citizen. And he's going
to go after immigrants now.
He will go after the DACA people because they're low-hanging fruit now. And the -- the bottom line is, I -- the only thing I can think of is that
anybody in this country that they want to challenge their citizenship is now going to have to go back and get birth certificates and records and all
kinds of things to show that, yes, my people have been here for two, three generations. You can't throw me out.
And he may say, I'm still going to throw you out because I don't think you're a citizen. But that, in just for happenstance, Mr. Trump has to be
careful what he says because his grandparents were not citizens.
SOARES: Yes. And I wonder --
SWARTZ: And as a result of which, is he not a citizen? There's always --
SOARES: Yes.
SWARTZ: -- that question.
SOARES: Exactly. People like the dreamers, for example, that I'm sure there'll be questions --
SWARTZ: Yes.
SOARES: -- that there will be real concerns here about that, Jeff.
And --
SWARTZ: Yes.
SOARES: -- there is no sense of what -- what that will mean. But I'm -- I'm guessing also, Jeff, at this point, when we're lacking the clarity, when
they didn't offer as a clarity or a plan, that you're going to be seeing, you know, mass lawsuits being filed.
SOARES: Oh, absolutely. Now, it -- it -- first of all, this decision is going to promulgate a large number of lawsuits.
If in fact, district judges who take on even cases that involve multiple citizens or people claiming citizenship in each district now have to go to
separate districts. You're going to see 94 separate lawsuits. You're going to see class actions, which are very cumbersome.
You're going to see a lot of litigation trying to get these -- the ultimate decisions as to what can and cannot constitute citizenship up to the
Supreme Court.
The problem is that the strategy that's been shown by this administration is that if they lose, they will not appeal. And therefore, a loss will
never find its way to the Supreme Court. And if they win, they will outlast people. And if they lose in an intermediary court, they'll say, OK, you
win.
They don't really want the Supreme Court to make the ultimate decision. They just want to win against this one or that one. And maybe they'll lose
a couple, maybe they'll win a couple. That's really the strategy here to never really get back to the Supreme Court on this issue.
SOARES: And, of course, we still have to wait.
SWARTZ: Despite what Pam Bondi said.
SOARES: Yes. And we still have to wait for the birthright citizenship. According to Pam Bondi, will be deciding in October. They are confident.
We shall see Jeff Swartz. Thank you very much for sticking with us for this hour.
We're going to take a short break. We'll be back after this. Thanks, Jeff.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:50:24]
SOARES: Pollution from artificial light is increasing every year, with negative consequences for wildlife, as well as human health.
Today on Call to Earth, we join a British astrophotographer as he highlights the importance of a truly dark sky.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AARON CHERRIE, ASTROPHOTOGRAPHER: As an astrophotographer, I come to places at this all the time and seek out dark skies. But that's becoming a rarer
and harder thing to find nowadays.
The saddest thing is that people don't get to witness things like this. This shouldn't have to be so hard to get to.
My name is Aaron Cherrie. I'm a bar owner in Madrid. And I'm a part-time astrophotographer.
This is Saint Michael's Mount. It's, say, one of the most beautiful locations, I think, in Cornwall.
Right now, at this location, we couldn't shoot much astrophotography here because the light pollution is too much in the background, from the
villages, from the town, from the street lighting.
Places like this really affects the -- the natural world. Insects, morphs, birds, it all has a knock-on effect.
KEVIN GASTON, PROFESSOR OF BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION, UNIVERSITY OF EXETER: The light has been used throughout much of evolutionary time as a -
- as a measure of timing.
And so lots and lots of organisms have used that. And now what we're doing is changing those natural cycles of light through the introduction of
artificial light.
Organisms are using it to determine when they might flower, when are they going to reproduce, when are they going to migrate, when are they going to
feed.
So, we're fundamentally eroding, distorting those light cycles on an enormous scale.
Dark Sky International is the leading organization internationally protecting dark skies, restoring dark skies where we've already lost them
because of the introduction of artificial light.
CHERRIE: Let's bring up light pollution map. This is the West Penwith Dark Sky location, which is a national dark sky site.
And this is where I'll be going tonight to take our pictures of the Milky Way. This is probably the darkest skies we've got in the U.K.
CHERRIE: We've all got to appreciate the night sky, even if it just means turn off your street light and going outside and standing out there for 10
minutes. You'd be surprised what you might see.
And now we're ready to start shooting. So this would be a 15-second exposure at F/2.8 ISO 6400.
Now, that shows you how much light pollution is now coming from Pendeen (ph), a local town here.
GASTON: Lighting is one of the things that we can do something quite quickly about, both individually and corporately.
Many of us have control over at least some forms of night time lighting. So, reducing the spill of lighting outdoors. I think everybody can do their
part in this.
CHERRIE: You see the Starlink trains. We have the auroras going off at the minute with the solar cycle being at its peak. But these things are missed
by light pollution.
By doing what we do here with astrophotography and stuff, it's trying to recapture that and then spread that with the world and seeing what nature
really has to offer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[12:55:11]
SOARES: Truly beautiful. Let us know what you are doing to answer the call with the hashtag, call to earth.
END
