{"id":791,"date":"2026-07-03T06:07:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T06:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=791"},"modified":"2026-07-03T06:07:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T06:07:55","slug":"congress-can-still-ban-birthright-citizenship-heres-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=791","title":{"rendered":"Congress Can Still Ban Birthright Citizenship. Here\u2019s How."},"content":{"rendered":"
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T<\/span>he Supreme Court has committed a grievous moral and legal error in Trump v. Barbara<\/em>, the landmark case on birthright citizenship. In holding that the 14th Amendment confers automatic citizenship on virtually all children born on American soil, the court has severely vitiated the sanctity of American citizenship \u2014 in this \u201cAmerica 250\u201d celebration year, no less. Moreover, on a prosaic level, the court\u2019s majority botched the basic constitutional question.<\/p>\n

Read more The Spectacle Ep. 438: The Democrats Walked So Democratic Socialists Can Run The Party<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Supreme Court has made a profound error in a case of immense importance.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

As this column has explained, the 14th Amendment\u2019s Citizenship Clause was, per its principal author, Sen. Jacob Howard (R-Mich.), \u201csimply declaratory of \u2026 the law of the land already.\u201d As for \u201cthe law of the land already,\u201d that was the Civil Rights Act of 1866, ratified by Congress two years prior to the 14th Amendment. That statute deliberately withheld blanket birthright citizenship for the children of those who are \u201csubject to any foreign power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman at the time, Sen. Lyman Trumbull (R-Ill.), confidently stated during the amendment\u2019s ratification debate that \u201csubject to the jurisdiction,\u201d the legally relevant 14th Amendment Citizenship Clause language, meant those \u201cnot owing allegiance to anybody else.\u201d This is why American Indians, whose allegiances in the 19th century were to their tribes, were not covered; it was not until the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 that these children were granted blanket birthright citizenship. And if American Indians\u2019 children were not automatically covered, then illegal aliens\u2019 children certainly were not.<\/p>\n

This is consistent with the prevailing 19th-century definition of citizenship, which was, as law professor Richard A. Epstein wrote recently for The Wall Street Journal<\/em>, \u201can exchange of protection by the sovereign for loyalty of the citizens.\u201d Justice Samuel Alito\u2019s Barbara<\/em> dissent cogently explicates this allegiance-based conception of citizenship, and Justice Clarence Thomas\u2019s separate dissent is a masterclass in history.<\/p>\n

It is shameful that Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett constitutionalized this fraught issue, rejecting Justice Brett Kavanaugh\u2019s middle-ground statutory overture and thus removing the question of birthright citizenship \u2014 and all that it now entails, such as the execrable practice of \u201cbirth tourism\u201d \u2014 from our normal democratic politics. To that extent, Roberts and Barrett have indeed given us a new Roe v. Wade<\/em>. Under a standard reading of Barbara<\/em>, the case must be overturned, or a new constitutional amendment passed, in order to preserve the sanctity of citizenship.<\/p>\n

But what if the standard reading of Barbara<\/em> is wrong? President Donald Trump responded to the court\u2019s decision by calling on Congress to act. Most commentators dismissed this out of hand as a paroxysm of rage from an aggrieved party. But the president, it turns out, is actually grasping at an important point. Congress can, and should, act by declaring both illegal aliens and so-called birth tourists to be the functional legal equivalent of modern-day foreign army invaders.<\/p>\n

There are four distinct clauses of the Constitution that reference invasion. And while the Supreme Court has never legally defined an \u201cinvasion,\u201d law professor Josh Blackman has explained, in surveying the four clauses, that the \u201cConstitution affords Congress, the president, and the states the power to declare an invasion \u2014 every branch except the judiciary.\u201d Indeed, in recent years, the state of Texas under Gov. Greg Abbott has done exactly this.<\/p>\n

Read more The Transportation Bill That Proves Washington Can\u2019t Quit Clientelism<\/a><\/p>\n

Congress can do the same thing: It can stipulate, under its Article I, Section 8 power to \u201cestablish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,\u201d that it is the sense of Congress that the United States has faced, and still does face, an \u201cinvasion,\u201d and that the children of the invaders shall not receive automatic citizenship at birth. Instead, Congress can clarify that those children can apply for naturalization using all extant, generally available means.<\/p>\n

How does this square with Barbara<\/em>? Simple: No serious person claims the children of foreign invaders are entitled to automatic birthright citizenship. Wong Kim Ark, the 1898 Supreme Court decision frequently invoked (if erroneously) by the Barbara<\/em> majority and by birthright citizenship defenders everywhere, actually confirmed as much: Justice Horace Gray noted that the \u201cchildren of aliens within territory in hostile occupation\u201d are not \u201csubject to the jurisdiction,\u201d to use the relevant 14th Amendment language, of \u201cthe sovereign whose domains are invaded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Put simply, under Wong Kim Ark \u2014 and thus under Barbara<\/em> as well \u2014 the children of invaders are not automatic birthright citizens.<\/p>\n

Are illegal aliens and\/or birth tourists really \u201cinvaders\u201d? Reasonable minds will differ. But recall that the Supreme Court has never defined the term \u2014 and for good reason, as such a determination is an inherently political question that is, per the 2019 Supreme Court case Rucho v. Common Cause<\/em>, \u201coutside the courts\u2019 competence and therefore beyond the courts\u2019 jurisdiction.\u201d It would seem that Congress can classify invasion as it reasonably deems fit and, if the president signs the bill, the courts would stay out of the way. Indeed, it is not inconceivable that all nine Supreme Court justices would duck on such \u201cpolitical question doctrine\u201d grounds.<\/p>\n

All of this is perfectly consistent with both Wong Kim Ark<\/em> and Barbara<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court has made a profound error in a case of immense importance. Barbara<\/em> can, and at some point likely will, be overturned on 14th Amendment grounds. And the passing of a constitutional amendment to overturn Barbara<\/em>, though perhaps farfetched, is a worthwhile effort even if it amounts to nothing more than a collective flexing of the sinews of self-governance in this milestone 250th anniversary year. But We the People are not otherwise helpless. Our representatives in Congress can<\/em> act. They should do so posthaste.<\/p>\n

READ MORE from Josh Hammer:<\/strong><\/p>\n

World Cup Tourists See What Too Many Americans Have Forgotten<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump Ties His Name and Credibility to Vance\u2019s Dubious Iran Diplomacy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Belfast Is Burning, and the Media Won\u2019t Say Why<\/strong><\/p>\n

To find out more about Josh Hammer and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at\u00a0www.creators.com.<\/strong><\/em>
\nCOPYRIGHT 2026\u00a0CREATORS.COM<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read more America at 250 \u2014 and Beyond<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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