Scroll down for two very different comments from the conservative side on oral arguments the Supreme Court heard on President Trump’s birthright citizenship case Wednesday. Join the conversation via editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line…
This Isn’t Hard -- The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution — that thing that the presidential oath of office mentions in the passage that has the person swearing saying he or she “will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend” — opens: “All persons born or naturalized in the Unted State, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, and of the State wherein they reside.”
“All” means the whole quantity.
“All” meant that in the 18th century (attention Constitutional originalists), as it does today.
Donald Trump ought to spend more time preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution rather than undermining it. —Stephen Macaulay
Birth Tourism -- The administration argues that "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" excludes children of undocumented immigrants or temporary visa holders, aiming to curb what has become a modern "birth tourism" and an illegal immigration incentive industry unknown 166 years ago.
This view has merit. The clause was ratified post-Civil War primarily to secure citizenship for freed slaves and their descendants, those born here fully subject to US authority, not foreign diplomats, illegals flooding across the Biden administration's open border or transient visitors owing primary allegiance elsewhere. Today's expansive interpretation, granting automatic citizenship to hundreds of thousands annually from non-citizen parents, has fueled exploitative practices that strain resources and undermine sovereignty in ways the 1866 drafters never contemplated.
The Constitution's text is broad and is open to judicial interpretation, which is the path the Trump administration is seeking. The preferred correction of these abusive practices would be through the amendment process. Unfortunately that is likely impossible in today’s divided and politicized Congress. –Rich Corbett