OPINION:
The D.C. establishment is flipping out over President Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship, howling about the 14th Amendment (“New Jersey leads effort to challenge Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship,” Web, Jan. 21). But the move should stick. The Supreme Court has heard only one case on 14th Amendment citizenship, and that was a very narrow one involving a former slave in 1869. The court has not heard a single case since. However, that case did reaffirm that Congress sets immigration policy, and that’s the basis for this week’s Trump move.
Twenty years ago, a group launched a legal effort in Pennsylvania to challenge birthright citizenship. In three specific cases, suits were
filed in federal court but never even advanced to a preliminary hearing. Why? Because the Bush administration deported the people in question, rendering the cases moot. In doing so, the Justice Department made it very clear it did not want the case to get to the Supreme Court. Several similar efforts were thwarted under Obama; there, too, the individuals in question were deported.
Trump’s move will force the Supreme Court to rule on the issue. There have been radical changes in our immigration policies and laws since 1869. The mainstream media and the political left have convinced the public that any woman, by giving birth in the U.S., has the right to claim American citizenship for her child when the harsh truth is that there is no legal basis for that political assumption. Now the Supreme Court will have to rule.
JAMES BARENDS
Wayne, Pennsylvania
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