Replies

I would have posted the link to the text of the 1898 decision; it's a good read, but one where the first inklings of "judicial activism" (commonly known as legislating from the bench) can be seen.

To me, it's still a stretch to apply the notion that someone who happens to show up for a few years (even legally) and happens to drop a kid should somehow end up with the same legal status as my children, who are 11th generation Americans. In what way can we impute the notion that they are "loyal" to the United States?

Recently the L.A. Times (of all papers) ran an article about Korean women coming here on vacation to have a little U.S. citizen. That one says it all: there's nothing sensible about granting citizenship to such a child.

The time to resolve this is long overdue. In a day and age when Saudi nationals can download a visa from the net, be on an airplane to NYC a couple of days later, and have a kid on U.S. soil in a week or so (a rather jet age version of the scam that expectant mama's in Tijuana run on San Diego hospitals), it's no longer reasonable to simply declare anyone born here under whatever circumstances a "citizen". It's ludicrous, and an insult to the people who sacrificed and settled America.