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To: Sherman Logan

It wasn’t until 1874 that the Supreme Court ruled that the term “natural born citizen” was not defined in the Constitution.
“The Constitution does not say, in words, who shall be natural born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to determine that.”—Minor v Happersett

The fifth section of the 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868 gave Congress the power to define citizenship.
Section 5. “The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.”


88 posted on 03/28/2015 8:02:16 PM PDT by Nero Germanicus (PALIN/CRUZ: 2016)
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To: Nero Germanicus

Agreed that the Constitution does not specifically define the term. The “elsewhere” the court mentions refers, IMO, to other sources of the time.

I don’t think 14A gives Congress the right to define citizenship, much less NBC. Enforcing a law is quite different from redefining its meaning.


97 posted on 03/28/2015 8:58:48 PM PDT by Sherman Logan (>)
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To: Nero Germanicus
The fifth section of the 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868 gave Congress the power to define citizenship. Section 5. “The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.”

And this assumption is what I would call a "non sequitur stretch."

108 posted on 03/28/2015 10:22:26 PM PDT by DiogenesLamp
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