So you are keen to just toss out 112 years of precedent? I mean, I could understand your originalist attempts if the Wong ruling was made by, say, the Warren court. But we are talking about 112 years of Supreme Court precedence, in a 6-2 decision by Justices that were alive during the debate and adoption of the 14th Amendment. You are relying upon cherry picked quotes of people involved with crafting the bill which, of course, are not the same thing as the means and intentions of all the people who voted for adoption of the amendment. I'm talking about over a century of Supreme court rulings which have invoked this interpretation of the 14th Amendment, including cases involving illegal immigration (see Texas, 1982 as referenced earlier).
The US argued in Wong that Wong's parents owed allegiance to the Emperor of China because they were not US citizens and hence they were not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. In fact, Wong's parents could never become citizens, owing to the Chinese Exclusion Act. In what way are the children of immigrants who cannot become citizens more subject to the jurisdiction of the United States than children of illegal immigrants? That is a very fine hair you have to split my friend. It is true that, as far as I know, the Supreme Court has never explicitly ruled in a case that involved both citizenship (ala Wong) and illegal immigration (Texas), though Texas obviously referenced Wong, so I'm sure that sufficiently motivated people can find wiggle room to carve out an exception that they really really want to see happen. But that really is the definition of judicial activism. Roberts is an activist court though, so you very well may get to see your wish. Judah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:317040 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
