Free Republic

There’s a strange idea floating in the political ether. Everyone from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) seems to think there is something unseemly about invoking the 14th Amendment to keep Donald Trump off the presidential ballot, and that his electoral fate ought to be left to the voters rather than the courts. Even Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who voted to impeach the former president over his involvement in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, thinks keeping him off the ballot is undemocratic. It’s a strange idea because none of these people think about any other constitutional...

Below is my column in the New York Post in response to the attack this week by Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe. I am honestly saddened by the ad hominem attacks that have become common place with many academics like Tribe. There was a time when legal disagreements could be passionate but not personal. The use of personal insults and vulgar trash talking were avoided in our profession. Now even law deans have called Supreme Court justices “hacks” to the delight of their followers. I have always said that there are good-faith arguments on both sides of the 14th Amendment theory...

Ben Werschkul·Washington Correspondent The support on Capitol Hill for what was once a fringe legal theory is growing by the hour as the debt ceiling talks head into their final days. On Thursday, a group of of 11 progressive senators led by Sens. Tina Smith (D-MN), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) released a new letter to President Biden calling on him to prepare to cancel the debt ceiling by invoking the 14th amendment. The increased adoption of an idea that could roil markets is a reflection of growing Democratic anxieties that the White House could be preparing for...

A Wyoming rancher is suing the Biden administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture claiming race discrimination over a federal loan forgiveness program that bars her from participating because she is white. Leisl Carpenter, a 29-year-old rancher from Laramie, says in the lawsuit that the “American Rescue Plan” loan forgiveness program is unconstitutional because it discriminates. “Like a lot of farmers and ranchers, our client has struggled to keep her family ranch afloat through all the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, only to learn that she is ineligible to even apply for Biden’s loan forgiveness program solely due to her...

People born in the U.S. territory of American Samoa should be recognized as U.S. citizens, a federal judge in Utah ruled Thursday, in a hard-fought legal battle spanning decades. U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups also ruled that American Samoans should be issued new passports reflecting his ruling. The disclaimer on their passports currently reads: "The bearer is a United States national and not a United States citizen." "This court is not imposing 'citizenship by judicial fiat,'" Waddoups said in his decision. "The action is required by the mandate of the Fourteenth Amendment as construed and applied by Supreme Court precedent."...

In 1895, in his early 20s, Wong Kim Ark returned to the United States, the place of his birth. He’d grown up in San Francisco, the son of Chinese immigrants, and was a cook by trade. His parents had returned to their own homeland in 1890, and he’d gone with them — but in the time since he’d established a transnational lifestyle. He’d started a family in China, but repeatedly made trips back to the US to work. In fact, he’d just met his first child, conceived on an earlier trip, and gotten his wife pregnant with a second. Such...

... The right to citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil is derived from the Fourteenth Amendment adopted in 1868: “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.” This is the common law doctrine of jus soli, or right of the soil. Opponents of birth citizenship try to obscure this plain meaning by interpreting “subject to the jurisdiction” as applying only to those who owe allegiance to America. Because alien parents owe allegiance to a different sovereign, the argument goes,...

Ted Cruz's Amazing Stances on Birthright Citizenship and the 14th Amendment from 2011 to 2015.

One of the most lame excuses for doing nothing is that we can't do everything. Such excuses have been repeated endlessly, even by some conservatives, when it comes to illegal immigration. We can't deport millions of illegal immigrants already living in the country, some say, so the wise thing is to just learn to live with them, according to the supposedly sophisticated crowd. This completely sidesteps the plain, obvious and galling fact that we are not deporting those illegal immigrants who are arrested by the police for violating other laws -- and are then turned loose back into American society....

It's time to go on the offensive about birthright citizenship. Congress has the broadest power under the Constitution to pass a statute and put an end to birthright citizenship. Today Mark had Professor Erler who is an expert on the 14th amendment and who has the right to decide who becomes citizen. He maintains Congress has that authority. There is no basis in the constitution for birthright citizenship. Hopefully people will listen to get an authoritative perspective. I'm not really interested in hearing opinions from people who won't take the time to listen. It is very clear who gets to...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday that birthright citizenship is a "constitutional right," casting doubt on fellow 2016 candidate Donald Trump's plan to do away with it. "That's a constitutional right," Bush told CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett during an interview in South Carolina, where he is campaigning. "Mr. Trump can say he's for this because people are frustrated that it's abused. We ought to fix the problem rather than take away rights that are constitutionally endowed." Speaking to reporters later, he added, "I don't support revoking it."

Mark Levin has done a whole show today on birthright citizenship. This would be the 8/18/2015 show. He made it very clear that birthright citizenship is not in the constitution or protected under the constitution for foreigners. He went into the history of who has the right to citizenship as defined in the jurisdiction clause of the 14th amendment . He also goes into the fact that congress has the right to define who gets citizenship under article 1,section 8. This discussion is very very specific and shows that this mess is a failure of congress to act and nothing...

With the October 17 deadline to raise the debt limit rapidly approaching, President Obama is not specifically ruling out using the 14th Amendment to increase the nation´s borrowing ability if the political impasse continues and Congress fails to do so, but says he does not expect the fight to get to that point. "I´m pretty willing to bet that there are enough votes in the House of Representatives right now to make sure that the United States doesn´t end up being a deadbeat. The only thing that´s preventing that from happening is Speaker Boehner calling the vote," the president told...

I have wondered for quite some time why Obama, Reid and Pelosi have been screaming so loudly about not prioritizing and "causing" a default. After all, it's not a default if you cannot pay for every program that was appropriated. You're just not keeping your political promises, which may***** off voters but isn't a default. A default is exactly one thing -- the non-payment of coupon or principal when it comes due. Now I understand the reason -- the 14th Amendment doesn't empower The President to raise the debt ceiling on his own. No, the 14th Amendment requires him to...

Born In The U.S.A.: Birth Tourists Get Instant U.S. Citizenship For Their Newborns Oct 28, 2011 By Anna Schecter A curious global industry has emerged that caters to wealthy foreign women willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars to give birth in the United States and get instant U.S. citizenship for their babies. The hefty price is worth it, according to these women, because it paves the way for easy access to American public schools, universities and jobs as the children get older and green cards for the whole family once the child turns 21. The women stay at...

by John HillStand With ArizonaWe have covered the disgraceful sham of "anchor babies" and birthright citizenship for a long time - illegal aliens using America's current misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment to obtain citizenship for their illegal babies - just by getting inside our borders prior to the birth. You have seen the Mexican women who come across the Rio Grande in labor, to have babies in Texas hospitals. Like this woman, who did just that, failed to pay her hospital bill, and just "doesn't understand the anger" of Americans at her willful disregard for our laws or her personal...

House Democratic leaders are calling on President Obama to invoke the 14th Amendment and raise the debt ceiling without congressional input. Addressing the Democratic Caucus Wednesday morning, Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.) the third-ranking House Democrat, told members that Obama should veto any short-term debt-limit increase that lands on his desk and use the 14th Amendment to hike the debt ceiling unilaterally. “With the same pen that he vetoes that short-term debt-ceiling extension, he should sign an executive order invoking the 14th Amendment” to raise the debt ceiling unilaterally, Clyburn told reporters in the Capitol after the caucus meeting. The Democratic...

Will Obama trash the Constitution to raise the debt ceiling?In your face, Tea Partiers!Left-wing pundits like Keith Olbermann (Current TV), Lawrence O’Donnell (MSNBC), and Katrina vanden Heuvel (Washington Post) practically drool at the recent claim that President Obama can unilaterally declare the debt-ceiling law unconstitutional, break off negotiations with Republicans, and order the Treasury secretary to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars without consulting Congress.O’Donnell revels in the Eureka! moment as he realizes Obama doesn’t need to negotiate with stubborn Republicans, he can just dictate terms thanks to this “nuclear option.” Vanden Heuvel thinks the president should threaten to deploy...

Though the Independence Day fireworks in Washington have ceased, the real firestorm to protect America’s freedom is just beginning. As the battle over raising of the debt ceiling is raging, the Obama Administration is, once again, toying with the idea of subverting the US Constitution to pursue its ideological agenda. Amid the stalemate in the debt ceiling talks, brought about by the Democrats’ insistence on including tax hikes in a debt ceiling deal, the President is trying to cut Congress out of the equation. As the August 2nd deadline for raising the nation’s debt limit looms, the Administration and its...

Typical Chicago-style politics: The Department of Health and Human Services has found a way to top itself. On Friday, Kathleen Sebelius issued another 126 waivers, bringing the total to 1,040. All told, health care waivers now cover 2.6 million Americans.