I’m talking about Supreme Court Justices in the 19th Century.
For example:
Minor v. Happersett (1874)
Additions might always be made to the citizenship of the United States in two ways: first, by birth, and second, by naturalization. This is apparent from the Constitution itself, for it provides that ‘no person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President,’ and that Congress shall have power ‘to establish a uniform rule of naturalization.’Thus new citizens may be born or they may be created by naturalization.
You said - If there is no authority to define a constitutional term,
But what I'd said was - The power for the federal government to define, by law, the term natural born
By law - meaning put into law, not that none of the branches could utter a word about it in any discussions.
Sorry. If I'd caught that sooner, I would have said something.