When I was working on a template for an eligibility bill that would remedy the problems in our current system, one of the things I really wanted a bill to include was the opportunity for lay-people to submit input to the court, so that judges could NOT just ignore people like you who have done a lot of research and who have the actual evidence and references that DO reveal what was in the minds of the Founding Fathers when they penned the “natural born citizen” phrase in the Constitution.
Wong Kim Ark’s references were all from either 150 years before the Constitution was ratified or 100 years after. The logic of “natural born” citizenship being conveyed only by the PLACE of birth was directly stated only in the Dred Scott decision and in the quote from a British law professor who based his statements on the British Nationality Act of 1870.
The American Legal system is pompous. Judges and lawyers are arrogant, and without any commiserate justification. (They aren’t particularly smart or clever, just learned in “process.”) So many overlook the fact that prior to the creation of the U.S. Constitution, there were no American Laws or Lawyers. Many of our most famous lawyers did not even attend law school, they studied it on their own.
Something I learned years ago that I found to be quite enlightening was the etymology of the word “amateur.” It is derived from the Latin word for love; Amor. It literally means someone who does something for the love of it. In it’s original meaning, amateurs were regarded as of superior talent then professionals, who merely did something because it was a job.
This is why I’m not so particularly impressed with the pronouncements of various legal “experts.” If they are so smart, the system wouldn’t be the god awful mess that it has become. We need the opposite of what these people are selling.