BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: 411

The first sentence in the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution reads as follows: “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.” (Emphasis added.) This language has been interpreted by the courts to mean that anyone physically born in the United States automatically has become a citizen. But is that really what the Framers of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868, had in mind? Let’s put it this way, the Framers were shortsighted in that they did not anticipate the airplane. Do you believe the Framers meant for a pregnant female citizen of Mexico who is flying to Toronto but whose plane stops for fuel in St. Louis at which time she gives birth to a child, meant for that child to be a United States citizen? I’ll bet that not one of them would have intended that to be the result.

So the question is: what is the meaning of the words “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof?” Obviously anyone in our country, citizen or not, is subject to our criminal, civil and traffic laws, just as we are when visiting a foreign country subject to theirs. But if that is the interpretation that clause would be surplusage. My opinion, which again has still not been shared by the courts, is that this clause was intended to address the circumstances of the former but now freed slaves. Many of them were born here but obviously had not been citizens. Nevertheless, they were deemed to be naturalized and subject to jurisdiction of our country, unlike foreign travelers. So that is the only interpretation that makes sense to me. Thus if the courts adopt that interpretation we will not need to amend the 14th Amendment to eliminate birthright citizenship for transients, which is an inequitable and often even brings silly results. For example, This would stop such practices as pregnant women scrambling over our borders so their children could be born here, or others in jail requesting their sentences be increased so their newborn could become a citizen, etc. So those are my thoughts, what are yours?

Observation for the week: In a democracy it’s your vote that counts; in feudalism it’s your count that votes. . . .

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.) Superior Court of Orange County, California 2012 Libertarian Candidate for Vice President

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