Born Under the Constitution: Why Recent Attacks on Birthright Citizenship are Unfounded

March 31, 2011

ACS is pleased to distribute "Born Under the Constitution: Why Recent Attacks on Birthright Citizenship are Unfounded," an Issue Brief by Elizabeth Wydra, Chief Counsel of the Constitutional Accountability Center. In this Issue Brief, Wydra draws upon legislative history to demonstrate the intent of the Reconstruction Framers to grant U.S. citizenship based on the objective measure of U.S. birth, rather than subjective political or public opinion. Wydra also exposes the illegitimacy of current legislative efforts to undermine birthright citizenship, explaining that "[t]he Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment believed that providing citizenship to persons born in the United States without regard to race or color was a long-overdue fulfillment of the promise of inalienable freedom and liberty in the Declaration of Independence," and that "[i]nalienable rights are not put to a vote."

Read the full Issue Brief here: Born Under the Constitution: Why Recent Attacks on Birthright Citizenship are Unfounded