The legislators state the president’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment is a viable one.
Some members of the House Judiciary Committee offered official support for President Donald Trump’s executive order to restrict birthright citizenship this week, filing a friend-of-the-court brief against a lawsuit challenging the order filed by four state attorneys general. A nationwide injunction has been placed against the order as the litigation proceeds.
The lawsuit is one of eight legal challenges to the executive order, claiming that it violates federal immigration law and long-standing legal precedent surrounding the 14th Amendment. However, the 18 federal legislators claim in their brief that the president’s interpretation is a viable reading and implementation of the 14th Amendment despite past precedent.
“The touchstone for birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment is allegiance to the United States, rather than merely being subject to its laws or some subset thereof,” the lawmakers’ brief reads.
The Fourteenth Amendment declares “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” to be citizens. The question is how the final phrase is to be interpreted.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For the judges who are hearing the challenges to the president’s restriction of birthright citizenship to those “subject to the jurisdiction of” the U.S.
- For federal legislators to be discerning as they deliberate support for the president’s policies.
Sources: The Hill, Fox News
