Birthright Citizenship Chorus
Prominent Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, Patty Murray, Ruben Gallego, Jasmine Crockett, Ted Lieu, Pramila Jayapal, Tim Kaine, Dan Goldman, and Catherine Cortez Masto all claim that the Constitution gives birthright citizenship to everyone born in the United States.
IN FACT, the Constitution grants birthright citizenship only to people who are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States. This doesn’t mean “within its jurisdiction,” a phrase that appears in the very next sentence of the Constitution and is used for separate purposes.
Moreover, Jacob Howard, the U.S. Senator who crafted the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, introduced it in the Senate by explaining that this “will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who”:
- are “foreigners, aliens,”
- “belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers,”
- are “an Indian belonging to a tribe,”
- are not subject to the “full and complete jurisdiction” of the United States, meaning the “same jurisdiction in extent and quality as applies to every citizen of the United States now.”
As ratified, the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment contains the exact words proposed by Howard. Hence, there can be little doubt that it means exactly what he said it means.
