According to Ann Coulter, we have this abomination MISinterpretation of the 14th Amendment, thanks to a FOOTNOTE from Justice Brennan. So, history and the words from those who wrote the dang language of the 14th Amendment got tossed out, all because ONE liberal activist in a black robe decided to say otherwise. Ridiculous!
No one called him on it. He opened the back door and the house was half full of intruders before we became aware of the fact. Pretty much like Hugo Black’s redefinition of thereligious “clauses” of the First Amendment.
The money quote---unconstitutional and directly from the Supreme Court (in bold below):Ann Coulter: JUSTICE BRENNAN'S FOOTNOTE GAVE US ANCHOR BABIES (Not The Constitution)
JUSTICE BRENNAN'S FOOTNOTE GAVE US ANCHOR BABIESAugust 4, 2010Democrats act as if the right to run across the border when you're 8 1/2 months pregnant, give birth in a U.S. hospital and then immediately start collecting welfare was exactly what our forebears had in mind, a sacred constitutional right, as old as the 14th Amendment itself. The louder liberals talk about some ancient constitutional right, the surer you should be that it was invented in the last few decades.
The very author of the citizenship clause, Sen. Jacob Howard of Michigan, expressly said: "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."
In the 1884 case Elk v. Wilkins, the Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment did not even confer citizenship on Indians -- because they were subject to tribal jurisdiction, not U.S. jurisdiction.
For a hundred years, that was how it stood, with only one case adding the caveat that children born to legal permanent residents of the U.S., gainfully employed, and who were not employed by a foreign government would also be deemed citizens under the 14th Amendment. (United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 1898.)
And then, out of the blue in 1982, Justice Brennan slipped a footnote into his 5-4 opinion in Plyler v. Doe, asserting that "no plausible distinction with respect to Fourteenth Amendment 'jurisdiction' can be drawn between resident aliens whose entry into the United States was lawful, and resident aliens whose entry was unlawful."
Same thing happened on the Separation of Church and State issue.