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To: bushpilot2
"The Constitution does not, in words, say who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. At common-law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives, or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners. Some authorities go further and include as citizens children born within the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of their parents. As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first. For the purposes of this case it is not necessary to solve these doubts."

If birthers would read the whole paragraph in context then it's pretty clear what the court is saying. Children born in the U.S. of citizen parents are natural-born citizens. There isn't any doubt in that, and I'm not saying there is. But the court goes further and acknowledges that there is more than one definition of who is a natural-born citizen. And that while the court recognizes that there are those who disagree with the expanded definition it also makes it clear that it is not their place as part of the Minor v. Happersett decision to say whether those other definitions are right or wrong. So no, the Supreme Court did not say that only children born in the U.S. of citizen parents are natural-born citizens. It says that it is the only unquestionable way of qualifying for natural-born citizenship.

296 posted on 02/11/2016 3:51:41 AM PST by DoodleDawg
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To: DoodleDawg
-- But the court goes further and acknowledges that there is more than one definition of who is a natural-born citizen. --

At BEST, the passage you refer to is ambiguous. Its direct statement is that perhaps not all persons born in the US are citizens of the US at all. The court is probing whether Minor is a citizen at all, when it writes ...

Some authorities go further and include as citizens children born within the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of their parents. As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first.

The court was not seeking to determine if Minor was a natural born citizen. The question was, is she a citizen at all? The court did not write, as you imply that it did, "Some authorities go further and include as natural born citizens children born within the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of their parents. As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first."

299 posted on 02/11/2016 4:47:08 AM PST by Cboldt
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