Political Quotes

“I rise today to discuss a fundamental question: Who is a citizen of the United States? My comments are inspired by an interview given recently by the President-elect in which he announced that he would try to end birthright citizenship on day one of his Presidency. In the same interview, he claimed that the United States was the only nation on Earth offering birthright citizenship. What is birthright citizenship? Is the United States the only nation that has it? Let's start with the Constitution. The 14th Amendment enacted by Congress in 1866 and ratified by the States in 1868 contains a clear definition of citizen. Section 1 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. A very straightforward definition. If you are born in the United States or naturalized by law--and that is covered in article I of the Constitution that Congress may set up a process for naturalizing--you are a U.S. citizen so long as you are subject to the jurisdiction of this country. And there is no equivocation, ``all persons'' in either category are U.S. citizens. The Constitution was first adopted, as we all know, in 1787. Why was this definition of citizen added to the Constitution in 1868--90 years later? Surprisingly, there was no definition of citizen in the Constitution as originally issued. The word ``citizen'' was used once without definition.…”