Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking at the Constitution Day event at James Madison University about “Rage and the Republic.” and various constitutional issues. During the event, organized by the James Madison Center on Civic Engagement, one student asked me what I would change about the U.S. Constitution. I said that I would amend the Constitution to eliminate birthright citizenship, as have other nations who once followed this ill-considered practice. Well, Sen. Rand Paul (R., Kentucky) has wasted no time. He just reintroduced his bill to ban birthright citizenship.
I have previously written about the possible need for such an amendment after the decision in Trump v. Barbara.
With that decision, the matter now rests not with the court but with the country. We have never truly had a national debate over the practice. The basis and future of birthright citizenship have remained matters almost exclusively for the courts.
Most countries in the world reject this controversial policy. Our closest allies in Europe reject birthright citizenship and follow the common practice of “jus sanguinis,” or right of blood. We are part of a smaller number of countries following “jus soli,” or right of soil.
Various countries that once followed the practice later amended their constitutions or laws to get rid of it. That is what would need to be done with a 28th amendment.
It is time that we have a civil and substantive debate over birthright citizenship in the United States. Given that the states are Democratic-controlled, it is unlikely that an amendment would pass; as noted, we have never been given this decision at the national level. Even with the 14th Amendment’s ratification in 1868, there were differing views on the meaning of the critical line: “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.”
Both sides have good-faith arguments, but the time for that debate is long overdue.
Here is the language of the amendment:
JOINT RESOLUTIONProposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to protect United States citizenship.
That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:
“article —“Section 1. For purposes of the 14th article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States, a person may be considered to be ‘subject to the jurisdiction of the United States’ only in accordance with section 2.
“Section 2. A person born in the United States may only be considered ‘subject to the jurisdiction of the United States’ if the person is born in the United States of parents, one of whom is—
“(1) a citizen or national of the United States;
“(2) an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States whose residence is in the United States; or
“(3) an alien with lawful status under the immigration laws performing active service in the Armed Forces.
“Section 3. Congress shall have the power to carry out this article through appropriate legislation.”
The new interpretation of citizenship is new. In 50 years or maybe 25 no one will remember. So it is.
If one were to subtract the Anonymous troll posts, the post count here would be half, at least. I do not understand the reticence on the part of our hosts. No sane website allows this level of co-opting. And it sure is annoying. Eventually, and inevitably, it will drive visitors away.
Sigh. Typo. Please give us a legitimate way to log in. WordPress is a dumpster fire.
Its not as if your stupid comments have anything of interest to add. Daily you screech hate towards other Americans. You’re a clown, get lost you hatemonger.
Clown Anon
It’s pure free speech. I guess allowing even the trolls to post nonsense and crazy stuff is what Turley supports. Or Darren quit his job and Turley is in the process of hiring a new moderator.
ESTOVIR , posing as James, has the nerve to say ‘anonymous troll comments account for half of all the posts’.
In reality, ESTOVIR’S PUPPETS account for up to 3/4 of the posts on many days. Estovir also uses ‘Anonymous’ on a routine basis, in addition to multiple puppets per day.
Estovir’s activities have been going unchallenged for 6 years at this point. All these names that have become staples to readers have been Estovir all along.
Names like James, Upstate Farmer, Old Man From Kansas, Thinkthrough, Diogenes, Sam, Kirk, Whimsical Mama, Hullbobby, Steve Witherspoon.. They’re all part of a deliberate deception to fool Turley readers.
This ongoing deception has to end at some point. This forum would be far more interesting if all the commeters were real people making real arguments.
There’s a missing piece Congress could get working on — a national Citizenship Verification database.
If newborns have to inherit US Citizenship from parents, how will eligibility be verified at the time of birth?
There’s also an application for voter eligibility. The logjam over the SAFE Act is there is no easy-to-use system to prove one’s US Citizenship.
Oh, and the new system must be fraud-proof, and have a means to quickly correct errors.
And, how about babies born on US soil NOT eligible? They need to have their Nationality determined, and Temporary Neonate Visas issued, so they can depart the country legally.
Rand Paul is a bit premature with this Constitutional Amendment. He, more than anyone, should understand the basic infrastructure doesn’t now exist to make his proposal a reality. Where’s the common sense?…it has left the building.
It’s all performative showboating. Neither Party knows how to govern anymore.
No matter what Rand Paul proposes it’s not going anywhere. Not with this Congress or the next one.
There isn’t a post today, the 17th?
Rest assured Professor Turley is furiously searching the interwebs for something to pin on those crazy lefties and the scary socialists. There is bound to be a wild story out in the fringes.
National referendum to change the Constitution.
There are over million Chinese in China with US passports obtained via birth tourism racket. Ready to vote here at will. Isn’t a national security (survival) issue, yet?
You mean actual U.S. citizens? Hey, if they have valid American passports they can certainly vote.