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🇺🇸 Citizenship Clash

Birthright citizenship in the crosshairs: Trump reignites a constitutional debate.

December 12, 2024

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Left: Does Latino Shift to Trump Spell Doom for Democrats? Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine

Right: Eric Adams Wisely Works With Trump on Deportations, Editorial Board, Washington Examiner

Right: Primary a Squish GOP Senator To Encourage the Others, Kurt Schlichter, Townhall

Right: Can the Nation Wait Until Jan. 20? Byron York, Washington Examiner

TRUMP

Citizenship Clash

Today’s Top Story: President-elect Donald Trump vowed to end birthright citizenship, calling it “ridiculous,” but the proposal is expected to face significant legal challenges due to the 14th Amendment’s protections.

Reporting from the Left: Trump promises to end birthright citizenship: What is it and could he do it? (AP)

Reporting from the Right: Trump: ‘We Have to End’ Birthright Citizenship (Breitbart)

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Rewriting Who Belongs

The Top Argument From The Left: Trump plans to withhold citizenship from newborn Americans, Hayes Brown, MSNBC: “[Trump and his incoming staffers] subscribe to a worldview that has long rejected the notion that America’s white Christian heritage can stand while also freely accepting the children of nonwhite migrants or formerly enslaved Black people as equal citizens under the Constitution. … Trump’s campaign argued that the change is needed to deter illegal border crossings and prevent what’s derisively called ‘anchor babies’ from acting as a backdoor for undocumented parents to remain. But the requirement would also exclude babies born to parents who are in the U.S. legally but aren’t permanent residents. Not only would that exclude babies born to those on temporary work or student visas, but it would also exclude babies born to those who’ve been admitted as refugees or granted political asylum. … There’s a danger in even being willing to accept any exceptions in the notion that people born in the United States are citizens. It’s just a small step from there to requiring citizenship from one parent as a prerequisite; then both parents; then grandparents. America would be transformed from one of the most free and welcoming countries into a “blood and soil” nation of exclusion, one built on the backs of children whose only crime was being born under Trump’s second regime.

Honorable Mention #2: Trump’s Birthright-Citizenship Threat Shows His True Target, Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Misguided Approach

The Top Argument From The Right: Trump’s Misguided Attack on Birthright Citizenship, Jason L. Riley, The Wall Street Journal: “Mr. Trump’s insistence to the contrary notwithstanding, more than 30 other countries, including Canada and Mexico, also honor birthright citizenship. More important, it’s doubtful that the policy can be altered by executive order rather than through a constitutional amendment or act of Congress. Critics of birthright citizenship say it doesn’t apply to the children of illegal-alien parents, but that’s not explicit in the text of the amendment, which states that ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the state wherein they reside.’ Conservative and liberal legal scholars have argued that even before the 14th Amendment was added in 1868 to grant citizenship to former slaves, it was clear that people born here were considered citizens. …ending birthright citizenship would almost certainly be at cross-purposes with [Trump’s] larger goal. Children who automatically become citizens would be counted going forward as illegal, like their parents, and the size of the illegal population would swell by the millions.”

Honorable Mention #1: Trump’s challenges and implications of ending birthright citizenship on Day One, Anna Giaritelli, Washington Examiner

FLAG THIS

Americans Favor Birthright

Polling conducted last year by the Economist/YouGov found that most Americans support birthright citizenship, despite former Trump’s vow to end it:

  • 60% of U.S. adults believe citizenship should continue for all born in the U.S., regardless of parental status.

  • 25% oppose continuing the policy, while 15% remain unsure (The Hill).

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WATERCOOLER

PA Says Yay, Rent A Friend, Walking Into Tomorrow

On This Day in 1787, Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the Constitution, by a vote of 46 to 23. Pennsylvania was the first large state to ratify, as well as the first state to endure a serious Anti-Federalist challenge to ratification.

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