Unlike the constable in “Casablanca” who was “shocked, shocked!” to learn that gambling was going on at Rick’s nightspot, I am actually not “shocked, shocked” that the Supreme Court has upheld the scam interpretation of the birthright clause in the U.S. Constitution.
Actually, had the writers of the 14th Amendment been more careful in their wording, they might have conveyed what they truly meant — that all children of slaves born in the U.S. are natural citizens. (Note: the constable wasn’t shocked either, just caught with his legal pants down.)
The key element in the 14th Amendment, which contains the much-ballyhooed birthright-citizenship clause, is the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” As Marc Levin points out on his FOX television show, the children of illegal aliens are subject to the jurisdiction of their home countries, not strictly the United States, thereby excluding them from automatic constitutional citizenship.
Now, those haughty TV commentators who now throw the SCOTUS ruling back in Donald Trump’s face should take a look at history, specifically at the federal Civil Rights Act passed in 1866, which was the basis for the 14th Amendment. As Justice Clarence Thomas (the best thing to happen to the Supreme Court in my lifetime) points out in his dissent, the Civil Rights Act specifically precludes non-permanent residents from securing birthright citizenship, to wit:
“That all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States.”
Of course, it can be argued that the 14th Amendment was specifically worded to overturn the Civil Rights Act’s provision, but Justice Thomas notes: “The Citizenship Clause did not change the Civil Rights Act’s rule. The Clause and the Act were passed by the same Congress during the same session.” Of course, no one is quoting his dissenting opinion either on TV, online, or in print.
Anyway, I am certainly not shocked by the ruling. The three liberal justices would affirm open borders, automatic citizenship, and immediate registration as Democrat voters and cite the 14th Amendment. The three “conservatives” voting yea feared for their media and public lives.
Trump did get an earlier immigration victory when the high court ruled that, to request asylum in the U.S., you have to be on our soil, not Mexico’s or Canada’s. However, as the Chinese do, all it requires is to take a vacation here while birthing your baby — and voilà, you have an instant U.S. citizen.
