State Legislation on the 14th Amendment Won't Change a Thing
By Joe Sigg, Arizona Farm Bureau
Last month’s failure of a package of birthright-citizenship bills debated in the state Senate means Arizona won’t be leading a national push for the U.S. Supreme Court to strip citizenship status from children of illegal immigrants ? at least for now.
There is considerable support for the premise that in order to be a native-born citizen; at least one of your parents should be native-born. That has not been the interpretation of the U.S. Supreme Court for over 100 years, and those that desire change claim the language and intent of the 14th Amendment has been hijacked.
Well, okay.
Let’s leave that whole debate of whether the interpretation of the 14th Amendment is right or wrong for some other time. Let’s assume you support a change. The state legislature has been working on bills that would challenge this premise. The proponents of these bills readily admit their intent is a federal lawsuit which will reach the U.S. Supreme Court. So let’s fast forward and assume we are there. What then?
There are only three possible outcomes if the Supreme Court rules anew on the matter (three always being a magic number, since it keeps the explanation limited!).
After years of time and expense to reach the court, the court could completely sidestep the issue and the whole discussion of the 14th Amendment and advise the state of Arizona they have no standing in this arena – that states have no role in determining or challenging citizenship. Exactly nothing will have been accomplished, so those who desire change will have had their expectations raised and see them disappear. It takes a long time to get to the Supreme Court, but let’s think about this further.
It is unlikely the court will suddenly become activist and abruptly move from a century of precedence. There has been no indication they would move in a new direction. So, in this scenario, the court would simply re-affirm their prior decisions. Again, if you support changing how the 14th Amendment is applied, there is no progress for you under this scenario.
Lastly, the court could rule that citizenship can be conferred only on those who have at least one parent who is a citizen. Notice I use the word “could” because even if the court was so inclined to make this change, chances are they will not. Reason: this immediately calls into question the status of all 311 million residents who currently claim to be citizens.
If this was the new law of the land all of us would have to prove up our status. My birth certificate does not prove I was born of a parent who was a citizen. My parents’ birth certificates won’t do. Imagine the scramble for documents, the chaos and the bureaucracy this would create – just the sheer enormity of the task boggles the mind.
Ironically, naturalized citizens would be the first to prove up since they would have their papers! Now, the court cannot “grandfather” folks, as there is no language in the Constitution that would support this, and there is language such as equal protection that would be violated. And until you were a “proven” citizen you could not vote, hold office or receive benefits, because your citizenship is open to challenge.
The court is not immune to the real world, so I don’t advise investing in Ancestry.com in anticipation of this occurrence.
My point is proponents of this state legislation are raising expectations with the public that cannot be met. If you want the 14th Amendment interpreted differently, the only reasonable route is a constitutional amendment.
Just to be protected though, I placed my great grandfather’s naturalization paper from 1886 in my safe deposit box. That leaves the rest of you, the 310,999,999, unprotected!
