Pawlenty Promises To Appoint ‘Conservative Justices’ Who Will Ignore The 14th Amendment

By Ian Millhiser

The Constitution guarantees that all persons born in the United States are U.S. citizens withonly a handful of very rare exceptions. Nevertheless, in last night’s GOP candidate’s debate, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty criticized the Supreme Court for following the Constitution’s unambiguous language and promised to appoint justices who would strip many Americans of their citizenship:

This issue of birthright citizenship, again, brings up the importance of appointing conservative justices. That result is because the U.S. Supreme Court determined that that right exists, notwithstanding language in the Constitution. I’m the only one up here — I believe I’m the only one up here — whose appointed solidly, reliably conservative appointees to the court.

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Pawlenty would do well to actually pick up a copy of the Constitution before he pretends to know what it says. Under the 14th Amendment, “[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” This language is unambiguous; it grants citizenship to all persons born in the US unless they are not subject to American “jurisdiction” — a very narrow exception that applies only to children of foreign diplomats and a handful of other people.

Moreover, the first Supreme Court decision recognizing birthright citizenship was hardly the product of excessive liberalism. The Court first acknowledged this right in an 1898 decision called U.S. v Wong Kim Ark. Three of the justices who joined the majority in Wong Kim Ark also voted with the majority in Lochner v. New York, an infamous Supreme Court decision holding that essential laws protecting workers from exploitation violate the Constitution. Five of the justices in the majority in Wong Kim Ark also voted to uphold Jim Crow in Plessy v Ferguson. So when Pawlenty promises to appoint justices who are more conservative than the ones in Wong Kim Ark, he is essentially calling for a Supreme Court that will immunize sweatshops from the law and uphold segregation.

Sadly, Pawlenty was not the only person on the stage to come out against the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. When asked whether he thinks the children of undocumented immigrants “should be considered a citizen of the United States,” former pizza executive Herman Cain replied, “I don’t believe so.”

Cain Trips Over The Constitution Again, Bungles The 14th Amendment At GOP Debate

By Travis Waldron

Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO and Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain has had his struggles with the Constitution lately, confusing it and the Declaration of Independence, misunderstanding a clause about bankruptcy, andfailing to grasp the unconstitutionality of religious tests in determining someone’s fitness for employment.

At last night’s GOP primary debate in New Hampshire, Cain stretched his misunderstanding of the Constitution into a new subject: birthright citizenship and the 14th Amendment. During the debate, Cain said the law needed to be changed so children of undocumented immigrants were not granted citizenship upon birth. He elaborated on his position after the debate:

CAIN: The 14th Amendment doesn’t talk about people that were here illegally. The 14th Amendment applies to slaves, black people, and their descendants who were here.

REPORTER: So you’re suggesting that the 14th Amendment does not say that people who are born in this country are naturalized citizens?

CAIN: …It does say people who are born here. But when it was written, it was written in the spirit of the slaves who were brought to this country. It was not written in the spirit of people who came here illegally. That’s where I’m coming from.

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While the 14th Amendment was ratified following the Civil War and granted citizenship to blacks and former slaves who had previously not been considered citizens, its language in no way limits its protections to former slaves: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has ruled that the amendment’s protections extend to anyone under the jurisdiction of the United States, even undocumented immigrants:

…the Fourteenth Amendment extends to anyone, citizen or stranger, who is subject to the laws of a State, and reaches into every corner of a State’s territory. That a person’s initial entry into a State, or into the United States, was unlawful, and that he may for that reason be expelled, cannot negate the simple fact of his presence within the State’s territorial perimeter. (Plyler v. Doe)

Cain said he did not believe in changing the 14th Amendment but wanted to change the law or add an amendment to clarify it, and he pleaded ignorance when asked if he’d support legislation proposed by Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and David Vitter (R-LA) that would significantlynarrow the amendment’s scope. But recent polling shows his view is out of touch with primary voters in New Hampshire, where 65 percent of Republicans prefer not to change America’s birthright citizenship laws.

GOP.com lists passage of the 14th amendment as a major Republican ‘accomplishment.’

By Amanda Terkel

Each day, more and more high-profile Republicans are speaking out in support of repealing part of 14th amendment to prevent anyone who is born in the U.S. from automatically becoming a U.S. citizen. Sens. Lindsey Graham (SC), Jon Kyl (AZ), John McCain (AZ), Mitch McConnell (KY), Chuck Grassley (IA) and Jeff Sessions (AL) have all said they back hearings on the issue. However, Media Matters’ Jamison Foser noticed that on GOP.com, the website of the Republican National Committee, the Party brags about the passage of the 14th amendment in its “accomplishments” section:

McCain: ‘I Support The Concept Of Holding Hearings’ On Overturning The 14th Amendment

By Andrea Nill First Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), then Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), now Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is calling for congressional hearings on rescinding part of the 14th amendment to prevent anyone who is born in the U.S. from automatically becoming a U.S. citizen. The intention of such a radical move is to

block the American-born children of undocumented immigrants from becoming citizens. Politico reports:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday he supports GOP calls for congressional hearings into altering the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to children of illegal immigrants who are born in the United States.

“I support the concept of holding hearings,” McCain told reporters in the Capitol. [...] McCain, who helped lead the charge in 2007 for a comprehensive immigration bill with a pathway to citizenship for illegals, has taken an increasingly hard-line position on the issue as he faces a conservative primary challenger in a state that has become ground zero for the nation’s battle over immigration reform.

As Think Progress has repeatedly noted, the movement to repeal “birthright citizenship” was once limited to members of the extreme right-wing fringe of the Republican Party such as former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO). In recent weeks, however, the idea has taken fire. In Arizona, SB-1070 sponsor and state Sen. Russell Pearce (R-AZ) plans to make legislation denying “birthright citizenship” to the children of immigrants his next pet project.

McCain’s own tacit endorsement is bridled with hypocrisy. McCain once fought for a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants, reasoning that we “will never be able to please the political extremists on either side of this issue [immigration].” In 2006, McCain even worried about would happen to the U.S. citizen children of undocumented immigrants if their parents were deported, stating:

What shall we do with these Americans — and they are Americans by virtue of their birth here — when we deport their parents? Shall we build a lot of new orphanages? Find adoptive parents for them? Deny their citizenship and ship them back, too? No, Mr. President, we’ll do none of these things.

Last week, McCain was still skirting questions on the 14th amendment, telling John King, “[m]y focus my right now is to get the surveillance, the people and the fences in there to get the border secure.” Apparently now, McCain is willing to embrace what he described as “the dislocation and agonizing moral dilemmas” presented by an enforcement-only policy that he once advocated against.

Lindsey Graham considering overturning the 14th amendment to end ‘birthright citizenship.’

By Andrea Nill Politico reports that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who many previously thought would co-sponsor comprehensive immigration reform this year, is considering radically changing the 14th amendment. Graham may introduce a constitutional amendment that would overturn the portion of the Constitution which states “[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” In other words, Graham wants to end the practice of granting citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants born on U.S. soil. Politico reports:

“I may introduce a constitutional amendment that changes the rules if you have a child here,” Graham said during an interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren. “Birthright citizenship I think is a mistake, that we should change our Constitution and say if you come here illegally and you have a child, that child’s automatically not a citizen.” [...]

“I’m a practical guy, but when you go forward, I don’t want 20 million more 20 years from now,” he said. “I want to be fair. I want to be humane. We need immigration policy, but it should be on our terms, not someone else’s. I don’t know how to fix it all. But I do know what makes people mad, that 12 million people came here and there seems to be no system to deal with stopping 20 million 20 years from now.”

Graham wouldn’t be the first lawmaker to introduce legislation that would dramatically alter the 14th amendment. However, similar efforts have been led by Congress’ right-wing demagogues. Graham is now also following in the footsteps of the rabidly right-wing Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce — the sponsor of SB-1070 who plans to “target the mother” by going after the “anchor baby racket.” A few months ago, Graham introduced a framework for immigration reform with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) that included a path to legalization for undocumented workers. In March, Graham walked away from the table, calling immigration reform “dead” after health care reform passed. Since then, Graham has joined his fellow Republicans in defending Arizona, blocking immigration reform, and calling for an enforcement-only approach.