{"id":106,"date":"2025-06-28T15:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T15:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2025\/06\/28\/birth-right-citizenship-and-the-14th-amendment\/"},"modified":"2025-06-28T15:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T15:48:09","slug":"birth-right-citizenship-and-the-14th-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2025\/06\/28\/birth-right-citizenship-and-the-14th-amendment\/","title":{"rendered":"Birthright Citizenship and the 14th Amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Kuttner, in a piece entitled Supreme Contempt for the Constitution<\/a>, writes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The Supreme Court issued a shocking ruling today, making it easier for President Donald Trump to overturn birthright citizenship. The way the Court did it was in keeping with its disingenuous strategy of using technicalities that allow it to duck the underlying question.<\/span><\/p>\n

The substance of Friday\u2019s 6-3 decision<\/a>, written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, involved a challenge to Trump\u2019s executive order denying citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily. His order<\/a> violated the 14th Amendment, which clearly holds that anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen, regardless of the circumstances.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This Kuttner is obviously a leftist ideologue. 14A does not<\/em> "clearly hold" what Kuttner says it "clearly holds." Section 1 begins:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

14A. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof<\/em>, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The meaning of the amendment depends on how the clause I have set in italics is interpreted. Such interpretation is the office of SCOTUS the function of which is neither legislative nor executive. Its function is judicial.  Here<\/a> is how  Stephen Miller and others read 14A.:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Let's talk about birthright citizenship. After the Civil War, Congress and America came together to ensure freedom for the children of slaves, not the children of illegal aliens . . . .<\/p>\n

If you go to the UN today, the United Nations, [which is located in New York City] you have diplomats from all over the world. None of their babies become automatic American citizens. Why? <\/p>\n

Because they're [the diplomats are] subject to the jurisdiction of a foreign country. Their allegiance is to a foreign country. Their citizenship is to a foreign country.<\/p>\n

Illegal aliens are no different, in fact, worse, because illegal aliens are expressly forbidden from even being on our soil. Their allegiance is to a foreign land. They're under the jurisdiction of a foreign nation.<\/p>\n

Their children are not U.S. citizens, and the Supreme Court has now cleared the way for us to restore the actual meaning of the United States Constitution and the idea that this special privilege does not belong to illegal aliens and their children. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The interpretation of 14A depends on  who the referents are of the phrase, "subject to the jurisdiction thereof."  Miller quite naturally takes the referents to be the parents<\/em> of the illegal aliens.   Thus Miller et al. take 14A to be expressing the more explicit:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

14A*. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and WHOSE PARENTS <\/em>are subject to the jurisdiction thereof<\/em>, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

On this reading birthright citizenship is ruled out. <\/span>The actual formulation in the Constitution, however, is 14A.  The trouble is that  the actual formulation allows the following reading:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

14A**. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, whether or not their parents are subject to the jurisdiction thereof<\/strong>, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

14A** is ruled out by the points Miller makes, one of them being that the children of foreign diplomats born to these diplomats while they are in the USA do not automatically become U.S. citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have made two main points. The first is that Kuttner is either bullshitting or lying when he claims that the meaning of 14A in its actual formulation in the Constitution is transparently clear. No, it NOT clear.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, and more importantly, the most plausible reading, is 14A* above, and NOT Kuttner's perverse hate-America leftist reading.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Kuttner, in a piece entitled Supreme Contempt for the Constitution, writes, The Supreme Court issued a shocking ruling today, making it easier for President Donald Trump to overturn birthright citizenship. The way the Court did it was in keeping with its disingenuous strategy of using technicalities that allow it to duck the underlying question. … Continue reading “Birthright Citizenship and the 14th Amendment”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-immigration","category-u-s-constitution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}