“...and his child… ‘If born in the country, is as much a citizen as the natural-born child of a citizen...”Justice Gray does a very revealing compare and contrast here:
- he compares two children
- on the one hand, he mentions the US born child of a resident alien
- on the other hand, he mentions the “natural-born” child of a citizen
Do you see the difference?
Donofrio is emphasizing the wrong part. The Justice compares two children who differ with respect to the citizenship of the parents, because that's the issue he's explaining. His point though is *what they have in common*, despite parentage, and what they have in commmon is that one is "as much a citizen" as citizen as the other.
Donofrio's misreading emphasizes the non-essential part of the sentence, and to believe that his reading is somehow legal he has to believe that this one sentence fragment somehow overrules the rest of Wong where it clearly says otherwise.
Others have already posted excerpts so I won't do it again, but Wong leaves no doubt that a person born in the US is a "natural born" citizen.
That of course defies logic, in that if that were so, then there was no cause for the term "natural born" to have been used by Madison in the requirements to be president. He could merely have said citizen. Also it is is disagreement with the letters exchanced between Madison and Jay wherein thay specifically plucked the term "natural born citizen" from the "Law of Nations." (we of course know how much you hate the Federalist Papers, but they cannot be denied in interpretation of Madison's document)