Questions and Answers
1. Birthright Citizenship – What Questions Should Be Before The Supreme Court?
On January 20, 2025, his first day in office, President Trump issued an Executive Order seeking to qualify eligibility for birthright citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment provides that: “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.”
But what does it mean to say “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof?” When is a person not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States?
Birthright citizenship was explicitly added to the Constitution in 1868 when the 14th Amendment was adopted following the Civil War. But there are several categories of individuals born in the United States who arguably are not subject to its jurisdiction. Among these are: (1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary (such as, but not limited to, visiting the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program or visiting on a student, work, or tourist visa) and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on this important constitutional question. The issue will likely turn on how expansive the Court finds this provision of the 14th Amendment, and whether a child born to illegal immigrants is covered by this protection.
2. Has the constitutional power of impeachment become a political weapon?
Where does Congress derive its authority power to impeach a sitting president?
Article II, Section 4:
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
The framers of the Constitution saw this power as an important check on the Executive and Judicial branches. But many believe that in recent times the power of impeachment has become a weapon for partisan political warfare. Partisan impeachment is when one branch of government attacks another as a means of political retribution. Impeachment has had a long political history, and even the framers were a little worried about how it would be used. In fact, it may be the only issue that Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson agreed on. Both men worried that a party with a large majority could weaponize it against their opponents. Today, their fears may have taken root. During our country’s firs 211 years, only one president had been impeached. But three of the last five presidents have been impeached or faced impeachment inquiries, and one Cabinet secretary was impeached for the first time since 1876. Impeachment is a powerful constitutional weapon when wielded correctly, but its weaponization raises well-founded concerns of the constitution’s drafters.
Larry Crain, Crain Law Group, PLLC, www.crainlaw.legal
