[edge919]

You quoted Gray as saying the justices were committed to the view. The complete quote says none of the justices were committed to the view.

It doesn't say "none" of the justices were committed to the view. Miller and "any of the justices" ALL took part in the UNANIMOUS Minor decision that excluded children born in the United States of citizens from the the operation of the birth clause of the 14th amendment.

Reading comprehension problems again. Nowhere did the judgement say that NBCs were "excluded" from the operation of the citizen clause.

I just showed that they were since the UNANIMOUS Minor decision that Miller and "any of the justices" took part in rejected Virginia Minor's claim of 14th amendment citizen because she fit the NBC definition of "all children born in the country to parents who were its citizens." This matches the substance of the phrase about the court being committed to the view: "all children born in the United States of citizens ..."

So it says Virgina Minor would have been considered a citizen with or without the 14th amendment. It doesn't say that NBCs are excluded.

No, GRAY said the court "excluded from the operation of the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment is manifest from a unanimous judgment." The UNANIMOUS judgment he cited was the Minor decision. The Minor decision does NOT says Minor would have been considered a citizen with or without the 14th amendment. It specifically said the amendment (under which she claimed her citizenship) did NOT confer citizenship on her.

The composition fallacy belongs to you. So far you've claimed:

1. "None of the justices were committed to the view ... is manifest from a unanimous judgment of the Court"
2. "Nowhere did the judgement say that NBCs were "excluded" from the operation of the citizen clause."
3. "So it says Virgina Minor would have been considered a citizen with or without the 14th amendment."
4. "It doesn't say that NBCs are excluded."

Here's what the decisions ACTUALLY said:

1. "the court to be committed to the view ...
2. "... all children born in the United States of citizens or subjects of foreign States were excluded from the operation of the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment ..."
3. "In this particular, therefore, the rights of Mrs. Minor do not depend upon the amendment." And "The amendment prohibited the State, of which she is a citizen, from abridging any of her privileges and immunities as a citizen of the United States; but it did not confer citizenship on her."

   Further, these citations are reinforced by the Context of these decisions. Gray said Minor's citizenship was due to being born in the United States to citizen parents.

4. "all children born in the United States of citizens or subjects of foreign States were excluded from the operation of the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment"

[sometime lurker]

(Break from work) Here's what the decisions ACTUALLY said: "the court to be committed to the view ... "... all children born in the United States of citizens or subjects of foreign States were excluded from the operation of the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment ..." The quote butcher strikes again! Here's what it ACTUALLY said:

That neither Mr. Justice Miller nor any of the justices who took part in the decision of The Slaughterhouse Cases understood the court to be committed to the view that all children born in the United States of citizens or subjects of foreign States were excluded from the operation of the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment is manifest from a unanimous judgment of the Court.

Break it down:

• None of the justices (neither Mr Justice Miller or any of the justices)
• None of the justices understood the court to be committed (they did not feel the court was committed)
• To the view that children in born in the United States
• were excluded from the operation of the Fourteenth Amendment
• which was "manifest from a unanimous judgment of the court"

Put it together: None of the justices were committed to the view that children born in the United States were excluded from the operation of the Fourteenth amendment. This is manifest from their unanimous judgement.

The rest, later.