“The Justice said that the child of the resident alien is a citizen, not a natural born citizen.”
Naturalized are citizens, too. But the decision didn’t say Wong Kim Ark was just as much a citizen as naturalized citizens; it said he was just as much a citizen as natural born citizens. Meaning he was something more than a mere citizen. Apparently everyone who interprets that passage to mean nothing more than “he’s a citizen” forgot about naturalized citizens, which doesn’t surprise me. Because bringing up that other category distracts from the delusion that soil babies and blood babies are polar opposites, whereas in reality both stand together against the naturalized.
Excellent point. Birthers have read that ruling statement to imply there are two types of 'citizens at birth' but the point of saying "just as much" is that it really means there is *no* distinction in law, and the court deliberately used natural-born as that comparison point. Either you are a citizen at birth or a naturalized citizen, those are the distinctions in law, none other.
The Wong Kim Ark case is about citizenship, and this is the decision:
The evident intention, and the necessary effect, of the submission of this case to the decision of the court upon the facts agreed by the parties, were to present for determination the single question, stated at the beginning of this opinion, namely, whether a child born in the United States, of parents of Chinese descent, who, at the time of his birth, are subjects of the emperor of China, but have a permanent domicile and residence in the United States, and are there carrying on business, and are not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity under the emperor of China, becomes at the time of his birth a citizen of the United States. For the reasons above stated, this court is of opinion that the question must be answered in the affirmative.
The cited passage "The child of an alien, if born in the country, is as much a citizen as the natural-born child of a citizen, and by operation of the same principle." is from a law review article by a Mr. Binney. It is a point of argument, not a decision of the Court, and not necessary to find "natural born" status in order to find "citizen." Binney asserted there are only two classes of citizen under the common law, born on the soil, and naturalized.
For what it's worth in a debate about what constitutes "natural born citizen," the naturalized citizen is also every bit as much a citizen as the child of an alien, if born in the country; and is also every bit as much a citizen as the child of citizens.