The most consequential civil-rights litigation of the nineteenth century was run out of San Francisco's Chinatown, and it is still holding the line. A community with no vote used the one branch that had to hear it: habeas petitions, Mamie Tape's school victory, Yick Wo v. Hopkins and a cook's son's 1898 case, Wong Kim Ark. In June 2026 the Supreme Court struck down an executive order ending birthright citizenship, resting on that case.
Who's who
- Wong Kim ArkSan Francisco-born cook whose 1898 case defined birthright citizenship
- Mamie TapeAmerican-born girl turned away from a San Francisco school in 1884
- Yick WoLaundryman whose case invented equal protection as applied
- Stanley MatthewsJustice who wrote the unanimous Yick Wo opinion
- Ogden HoffmanFederal judge whose docket filled with Chinese habeas petitions
- Thomas RiordanAttorney who filed Wong Kim Ark's petition
- Horace GrayJustice who wrote the 6-2 Wong Kim Ark majority
- John Roberts+5 more episodesChief Justice who wrote the 2026 birthright citizenship opinion
Where it happens
- Chinatown, San FranciscoCenter of the nineteenth-century legal fight
- Sacramento Street, San FranciscoBirthplace of Wong Kim Ark
- Spring Valley School, San FranciscoSchool that refused Mamie Tape in 1884
Timeline
- 1885Tape v. Hurley won, then separate Chinese schools authorized
- May 1886Yick Wo v. Hopkins decided unanimously for the laundrymen
- August 1895Wong Kim Ark denied landing and held aboard ship
- March 1898United States v. Wong Kim Ark decided 6-2
- January 2025Executive Order 14160 on birthright citizenship issued
- June 2026Supreme Court strikes down the order in Trump v. Barbara
Still debated
The 2026 vote is characterized differently: five justices joined the constitutional opinion, one concurred on statutory grounds, and three dissented. Yick Wo may be the laundry's business name rather than the man's name.
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