constitutionallyspeaking Says:Your comment is awaiting moderation.
January 27, 2012 at 3:13 PM
Hi Leo,
It continues to frustrate me the misuse/misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment. If one applies the same rule you discussed, then the 14th didnt need to state natural born as subject to the jurisdiction was to guarantee that none born owing allegiance to a foreign nation was automatically granted citizenship as defined by feudal common law of kings. (jus corona) This is why the 1868 Expatriation Act was passed the SAME week as the 14th was ratified. It is why it was always cited along with the 14th as the US never adopted any form of dual allegiance. As both Waite & Gray stated, subject to the jurisdiction means the same at birth as it does for naturalization and an infant at birth has not the capacity to throw off that which is naturally acquired through the parent. Thus putting the word natural in front of born in the 14th would have been redundant which goes against every rule of law writing on the subject. The core of the 1868 Expatriation Act that deals with dual citizenship is still valid law, it has never been repealed or overturned in a court of law.
I GUARANTEE that until the 14th is put back on its foundation of one citizenship either at birth or naturalization, this effort to restore A2S1C5 is hopeless.
Every govt cite on citizenship I have researched states that dual citizenship is a concept. Well, a concept is not law thus since WKA, we have lived in a nation where citizenship is merely a concept. Get rid of the notorious unlawful concept, and then the path to restore A2S1C5 is made straight.
Respectfully, Linda
constitutionallyspeaking Says:Your comment is awaiting moderation.
January 27, 2012 at 3:35 PM
Leo,
Permit me to add a bit. I know it wont be posted as I am not a lawyer, but one doesnt need a law degree in order to understand the law if one uses their God given brain and common sense.
The 14th Amendment was ratified for one reason and ONE reason only. To formally declare that the freed slaves are in fact US citizens.
When someone is sold as a slave, the only allegiance they have is to their master. They have no political rights nor are they considered as persons, they are considered as property. Thus before they were freed, these persons owed political allegiance to no nation and therefore, upon freedom/transformation from property to person, they acquired but one allegiance and that was to the nation they resided in that freed them, the United States.
There was not act of naturalization at that point as they never owed allegiance to any other nation. IOW, no renunciation was required of them. This art of law can be found in the book of Exodus when Israel came out of Egypt. There was a mixed multitude that came out with them, some free person who were naturalized through circumcision, but there was also another group, the slaves of the Israelites. Prior to leaving, YHVH commanded His people to circumcise all the males of the household, both free & slave, thus when they left, the slave was made equal to the master in that at that point he became a bond servant/hired hand, equal to the master under the eyes of the laws of YHVH. He went from slave/property to free man with the freedom to choose the employer he wished to work for.
WKA needs to be thrown out, not reinterpreted.
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads in part:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.”
In 1866, Senator Jacob Howard clearly spelled out the intent of the 14th Amendment by stating:
“Every person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the United States. This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons. It settles the great question of citizenship and removes all doubt as to what persons are or are not citizens of the United States. This has long been a great desideratum in the jurisprudence and legislation of this country.”
This understanding was reaffirmed by Senator Edward Cowan, who stated:
“[A foreigner in the United States] has a right to the protection of the laws; but he is not a citizen in the ordinary acceptance of the word...”
The phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” was intended to exclude American-born persons from automatic citizenship whose allegiance to the United States was not complete. With illegal aliens who are unlawfully in the United States, their native country has a claim of allegiance on the child. Thus, the completeness of their allegiance to the United States is impaired, which therefore precludes automatic citizenship.
Again statement is still made that they are citizens of the United States. It does not add that they are in fact Natural born citizens as required for the President and Vice President.
Not quite.
First of all, it was never ratified - it was adopted, but not ratified, and so, in fact, it is not law. It's just used as law. Look up the ratification history.
Secondly, you've put the cart before the horse - it MADE "U.S. citizenship." And that "citizenship" is NOT one of rights, but of administrative privilege. The reason the slaves were "made" 14A citizens is BECAUSE THEY WERE SLAVES. It didn't free ANY of them. Instead, it created a NATIONAL SLAVE CITIZENSHIP for them. It "solved" the State slavery issue by making it FEDERAL. That's how it "freed" the slaves from the States.
And since then, in the same was it was originally "presumed" into existence in the first place, it has been "presumed" to apply to EVERYONE.
That's why. for example, no one can get "standing" to examine Obama's birth certificate in court - slaves cannot demend anything from their masters, by definition. They have no standing.
WKA is one of the worst cases handed down by SCOTUS.
But the fact is, it is precedent at this point.
It makes the 14th Amendment declaratory of common law doctrine as it pertains to citizenship.