NEW: Statement by leading constitutional scholars explaining that no president can rewrite the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment through executive order. /1 cdn.americanprogress.org/content/upload…
"The 14th Amendment, adopted in the immediate aftermath of a Civil War that very nearly ripped this country in two, established the foundational principle that all persons are entitled to due process and equal protection under the law." /2
"The Supreme Court 120 years ago in ... Wong Kim Ark, settled the very issue. . . . In that case, the Court held that with certain very limited exceptions, all children born in the United States are natural-born citizens regardless of the citizenship status of their parents." /3
In Plyler, "the Court noted that just as undocumented immigrants are 'subject to the jurisdiction of the United States' for purposes of the Citizenship Clause, they too are 'within the jurisdiction' of a state for purposes of the Equal Protection Clause." /4
"There is today no serious scholarly debate about whether a president can, through executive action, contradict the Supreme Court’s long-standing and consistent interpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment." /5
"It took a Civil War—the bloodiest conflict in American history—to resolve a dispute about what it means to be an American—a person—in this country. The 14th Amendment, including the Citizenship Clause, is the rightly-cherished result of that American tragedy." /6
