Attorney Alan Dershowitz predicted Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s executive actions on birthright citizenship may not survive legal challenges.
President Trump is presidential order Monday, immediately after the oath of office, tightening the basis for granting citizenship to people born in the United States. Dershowitz said he feels that birthright citizenship is a “ridiculous idea” but believes President Trump cannot change it through executive action. (Related: Biden’s big last-minute pardon could come back to haunt families, Alan Dershowitz says)
“He said he was going to do away with birthright citizenship. I think birthright citizenship was a stupid idea. If I were to write a constitution, I would put birthright citizenship in it. “I don’t think so,” said Dershowitz, an outspoken critic of efforts to prosecute Trump at the state and federal level. “But read the Constitution and decide for yourself whether it applies to you. 14th Amendment, Section 1: Ambiguity in the words born person, born person, naturalized person No. We’re talking about people born in the United States, born in the United States, or naturalized, but here’s an important clause: U.S. citizens are subject to that jurisdiction. .”
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“Okay, so if you get what’s called an anchor baby. I don’t like that term, but a baby born in the U.S. to parents who have no ties to the U.S. “It means tourists come to do it, and women go into labor early and give birth to babies,” Dershowitz said. . “The baby never spends more than a week in the U.S., goes back to France or anywhere else, and lives his life as a French citizen, but when he turns 60 he decides, “Maybe I want to move to the U.S..” Masu” . I am a citizen. ” Should that person be a citizen? Of course not! “
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Monday saying President Trump’s order violates the 14th Amendment. Trump considered abolishing birthright citizenship during his first term, but did not order it.
Dershowitz further elaborated on what is “subject to that jurisdiction.” 14th Amendment means. The bill was passed after the Civil War and overturned the Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott v. Sanford decision.
Mr. Dershowitz weighed in on the possibility of this order in court. He said it would likely require Congressional action to define when someone is “subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.”
“The Constitution doesn’t define what it means to be subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, so I think Congress can pass that law. I don’t think the president can do that. “I don’t think you can declare that a person is no longer under U.S. jurisdiction,” Dershowitz said. “Ultimately, it will be up to the courts to decide, but as a long-time student of the Constitution, my best view is that at least Congressional legislation is needed to make a person born in the United States a non-citizen. ” Persons not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. ” (Click here to watch the Daily Caller documentary “America, Cartelville”)
“Unless there’s an act of Congress or a law to that effect. I just don’t know…I’m a pretty smart lawyer who interprets the Constitution, often in ways that aren’t obvious, and has won a lot of cases. I did. If President Trump calls me and asks me to do it, please think twice,” Dershowitz said. “I think I’m going to have to call you back and say, ‘I’m sorry Mr. President, but I don’t know how to get around this.'”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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