Blog #8

www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/opinion/14schuck.html?ref=fourteenth_amendment

1. Summarize the article, and include relevant quotes.

“all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States...”

The main idea of this article comes from the 14th Amendment and shows the different sides of the argument against any birthright citizenship. A birthright citizenship means that if you were born on American soil that you are automatically a citizen of the United States.

"The argument against any birthright citizenship is that these children are here as a result of an illegal act and thus have no claim to membership in a country built on the ideal of mutual consent."

On one side of the argument people are saying that it's right to allow the children of "illegal" immigrants, who were born in the United States, to automatically become citizens just by being born in the US. They are saying that if we got rid of the birthright citizenship there would be more undocumented people in the US.

"Without birthright citizenship, they could be legally stranded, perhaps even stateless, in a country where they were born and may spend their lives. And because more than a third of undocumented parents have a least one American child, ending birthright citizenship would greatly increase the number of undocumented people in the country."

2. Explain what Constitutional concepts are relevant. Some may be obvious, but others maybe more subtly related. Explain the Constitutional connection in your own words, but also reference the specific Article & Section or Amendment(s).

This whole article is based off of the 14th Amendment which states: 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. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Basically saying that everyone who is born in the United States are citizens of the United States and you can not take away their rights to life, liberty, and property without going through the law and you can not deny any person equal protection of the laws.

3. Explain what interests you about this article and/or the Constitutional connections you found.

I found this article interesting because it really is an interesting subject to think about. Should the children born in the United States be considered citizens when their parents are not? I personally like when articles require you to have your own opinion on the topic rather there be a right or wrong answer to the initial question.