The Corner

Immigration

Against an Executive Order on Birthright Citizenship

The breaking news is that President Trump is thinking of signing an executive order to end birthright citizenship. That’s a bad idea. Regarding the law, there are more elaborate scholarly treatments, but here’s a brief article I wrote years ago. He’ll lose badly in the courts. Regarding policy, here’s something else I wrote around the same time (item #2). And even if you think, as some do, that Congress can define the scope of citizenship in this regard, it would not follow that the president can on his own. Conservatives should insist in this context, as in others, that the Constitution be followed.

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