The first sentence of Section 1 of the 14th Amendment states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
The part about "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" is often left out when citing the 14th as justification for birthright citizenship. The meaning of almost any section of the Constitution could be changed by leaving out or adding words or phrases, but that is not the correct way to interpret a legal document. All words have meaning. I believe President Trump is correct in his assessment and the issue will likely have to be resolved by the Supreme Court.
It is interesting to note that Native Americans were not granted U.S. citizenship until 1924 when the Indian Citizenship Act was signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge. That was almost 56 years after ratification of the 14th Amendment. They were clearly born in the United States so jurisdiction was the issue making the law necessary.
Exactly. The language must be legally challenged and clarified by SCOTUS. Long overdue. An EO would be one way to get it there and force the court to finally take the matter up. I pray we have had some top notch attorneys already working on building some water tight arguments because we know SCOTUS will try to wiggle out if they can and not resolve the issue.
The first sentence of Section 1 of the 14th Amendment states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
The part about "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" is often left out when citing the 14th as justification for birthright citizenship. The meaning of almost any section of the Constitution could be changed by leaving out or adding words or phrases, but that is not the correct way to interpret a legal document. All words have meaning. I believe President Trump is correct in his assessment and the issue will likely have to be resolved by the Supreme Court.
It is interesting to note that Native Americans were not granted U.S. citizenship until 1924 when the Indian Citizenship Act was signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge. That was almost 56 years after ratification of the 14th Amendment. They were clearly born in the United States so jurisdiction was the issue making the law necessary.
Exactly. The language must be legally challenged and clarified by SCOTUS. Long overdue. An EO would be one way to get it there and force the court to finally take the matter up. I pray we have had some top notch attorneys already working on building some water tight arguments because we know SCOTUS will try to wiggle out if they can and not resolve the issue.