Commentary: The sad inevitability of Justice Alito's birthright citizenship dissent

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Set us as preferred In 1913, Antonino Alati left southern Italy to find a better life in a land where many people regarded him as little better than scum.He joined millions of his fellow countrymen in the United States, where the press vilified Italians as poor, dirty, violent Catholics who had too many babies, refused to assimilate and could never possibly be considered “white.”Politicians were already working to shut the door on them.

A congressional report released two years before Alati’s arrival cited southern Italians as evidence that “the new immigration as a class is far less intelligent than the old.” They came to the U.S., the report asserted, “with the intention of profiting, in a pecuniary way, by the superior advantages of the new world and then returning to the old country.”I’m the beneficiary of birthright citizenship three times over.Alati wouldn’t let bigotry win.

He soon sent for his wife and children, including his infant son Salvatore.Alati turned to Alito, Salvatore became Samuel.

A generation later, the family had a Supreme Court justice in Samuel A.Alito Jr.

— the second Italian American, after Antonin Scalia, to sit on the highest court in the land.During his 2005 confirmation hearings, Alito praised his father as an “extraordinary man who came to the United States as a young child and overcame many difficulties” to ensure a better life for him and his sister.By then, Italian Americans were established as an essential part of this country’s fabric, from music to politics to food.

It’s the most American of tales — which is why it’s so surprising, yet not, to read Alito’s blistering dissent in the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision rejecting President Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship.If there’s one constant in this country besides death and taxes, it’s ...