Supremes’ Birthright Citizenship Ruling’s Gray Areas
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Letter to Romans: Sup Ct’s ruling broadly interpreting “birthright citizenship” under the 14th Amend may yet yield narrowing future interpretations, either by way of new enforcement measures of current immigration law by the president; Congress passing new limits on immigration; and/or a new Constitutional Amendment…
The irony may be that it took more than 125 years for a majority of Supremes to plainly rule in Trump v. Barbara that the Citizenship Clause indeed covers children born in the US to parents whether they got here unlawfully or for a temporary stay. Few realize the concept of birthright citizenship started in the Sup Ct’s 1898’s Wong Kim Ark opinion authored by Justice Horace Gray & based on the common law principle at the time that birth in a country generally confers citizenship. The 14th Amendment itself included the possible caveat that such automatic citizenship was “subject to the jurisdiction therefor.” But that earliest precedent didn’t address that caveat & thereby left a boatload of “gray” areas yet to be determined. And that’s one big reason why three’s been so much heated debate over the issue, both before & after this week’s Court’s decision.
But as Lincoln the lawyer might have said (but never did), “this gnashing of teeth may be a pregnant donkey’s premature hee-haw.” As the WSJ noted, the Supremes have given “Trump new tools” in recent cases to not only tighten the executive branch’s existing immigration enforcement programs but to “accelerate deportations.” Meanwhile, Congress still clearly retains primary power over the immigration rules, including visa fraud. For instance, there’s several bills already afloat redefining what “subject to the jurisdiction” of the US means. Sen. John Cornyn has introduced the Back off Act that could pointedly make birth-tourism grounds for denying admission & deportation. And Sen. Rand Paul introduced a new amendment to end automatic birthright citizenship for children born in the US to parents illegally here.
Davd Soul
Comments