In that case, the justices found that Black people born in the United States were not citizens, but rather a “subordinate and inferior class of beings” with “no rights or privileges but such as those who held the power and the Government might choose to grant them.” Neither slaves, nor freed slaves, nor their descendants could ever become citizens, the justices ruled.Īfter the Civil War, Congress overruled Dred Scott by passing the 14th Amendment. And the Supreme Court ruled, more than 100 years ago, that the citizenship guarantee applies fully to U.S.-born children whose parents have no right to citizenship.īefore the amendment was enacted, American citizenship was controlled by the abhorrent 1857 Supreme Court decision Dred Scott v. More than 150 years ago, the 14th Amendment guaranteed to all those born within the United States citizenship, without regard to parentage, skin color, or ethnicity. The effort to erase the citizenship guarantee will never clear those hurdles - for very good reasons.īirthright citizenship is one of the bedrocks of this country. Amending the Constitution would require a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, and also ratification by three-quarters of the states. And Congress cannot repeal it by simply passing a new bill. Lindsey Graham announced that he would introduce legislation with the same aim.īut the president cannot repeal part of the Constitution by executive order. President Trump said this week that he is preparing an executive order to try to take away the citizenship guarantee in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which says that people born in the United States are United States citizens.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |