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A comment on Trump to terminate birthright citizenship.

Re:Trump to terminate birthright citizenship by krapp on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @06:40AM (#18335277)
A more accurate title (albeit editorialized) would be "Trump to attempt ending birthright citizenship." The existing title assumes he has the authority to do so by mere fiat, which is debatable.

    "It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional 
    amendment. Guess what? You don't," Trump said, declaring 
    he can do it by executive order.

    When told that's very much in dispute, Trump replied: 
    "You can definitely do it with an Act of Congress. 
    But now they're saying I can do it just with 
    an executive order."
Who are "they?" Lawyers and scholars seem to be telling him otherwise.

Someone on Fox News?

The most likely result of this is going to be an object lesson on the limits of executive power.

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Re:Trump to terminate birthright citizenship by jki275 on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @07:13AM (#18335428)
It's been debated for years, it will go to SCOTUS most likely. Hard to say how they'll rule, but there's no precedent.
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Re:Trump to terminate birthright citizenship by 0xcafecafe on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @08:13AM (#18335753)
The debate then wouldn't be about what to do about the issue but about what are the limits of executive power.
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Re:Trump to terminate birthright citizenship by jki275 on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @08:42AM (#18335942)
Well, there are two debates.

The debate about executive power is a critical one to have, that's been really brewing for probably about 14-16 years or so I would say just off the top of my head, and isn't limited to this particular issue.

However, this particular debate has to be on the merits. If the fourteenth amendment is found to not protect birthright citizenship, then the President actually does have the power to limit it by executive order. Nearly all immigration functions fall under the executive branch, unless Congress chooses to legislate on the issue -- on this particular issue I can't recall a specific law that addresses it and I suspect that given current leanings in the senate at least it would be very difficult to pass such a law.

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Re:Trump to terminate birthright citizenship by 0xcafecafe on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @08:12AM (#18335745)
I think this is just bone thrown to the far right base ahead of the midterms.
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