Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: Jeff Winston

Minor v. Happersett , 88 U.S. 162 (1875)
This case concerned Mrs. Happersett, an original suffragette, who in virtue of the 14th Amendment attempted to register to vote in the State of Missouri, and was refused because she was not a man.  The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in that year, wrote the majority opinion, in which he stated:
The Constitution does not in words say who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. At common law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners. Some authorities go further and include as citizens children born within the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of their parents.
Supreme court rulings take precedent over French letters and friends of Founders


15 posted on 03/13/2013 3:19:42 PM PDT by DiegoTom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies ]


To: DiegoTom
Supreme court rulings take precedent over French letters and friends of Founders

So you're saying the entire weight of early legal authority is irrelevant to knowing when it comes to what the Founders intended?

In any event, the 2-sentence statement in Minor was clearly dicta. It was an absolute side comment, and had little to do with anything. This is not contested by any significant legal authority in history.

The definitive ruling came in 1898 when the Supreme Court decided US v. Wong Kim Ark, and that ruling affirms the historical understanding.

16 posted on 03/13/2013 4:21:49 PM PDT by Jeff Winston
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies ]

To: DiegoTom

By the way, I’ve written on that elsewhere. The Court very clearly decided that children born on US soil do NOT have to have even ONE citizen parent in order to be natural born citizens.


17 posted on 03/13/2013 4:23:17 PM PDT by Jeff Winston
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson