M.D. Kittle writes for the Federalist about the latest pronouncement from US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
During Tuesday’s oral arguments on a widely-watched birthright citizenship case, Jackson once again showed that a basic understanding of the law is no longer a prerequisite to serve on the nation’s highest court. No three words uttered together stir more terror in the hearts of men as KJB declaring, “I was thinking …”
… Jackson struggled all morning with the intent of the Fourteenth Amendment. Ratified in 1868, the civil rights amendment was written to grant citizenship to freed slaves and their children, not the children of millions of illegal immigrants looking for a pass to stay. Or “birth tourists.” U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer noted that for decades after the amendment took effect, it was widely understood that children born to temporary workers in the United States were not citizens. …
… Jackson mused that if she stole a wallet while in Japan, she would be bound by her “allegiance” to the country’s criminal laws and the consequences therein. The bizarre train of logic began with those three dangerous words.
“I was thinking, I, a U.S. citizen am visiting Japan. And what it means is that if I steal someone’s wallet in Japan, the Japanese authorities can arrest me and prosecute me,” Jackson said. “It’s allegiance meaning can they control you as a matter of law. I can also rely on them, if my wallet is stolen, to, you know, under Japanese law, go and prosecute the person who has stolen it.”
”So there’s this relationship, even though I’m just a temporary traveler, I’m just on vacation in Japan, I’m still locally owing allegiance in that sense.”
In a very real sense that makes no sense. Visitors are bound by the laws of the countries in which they travel. Kind of like millions of “undocumented” migrants are bound — or should be bound — by U.S. immigration law. They don’t owe an allegiance to the country that should be enforcing said laws. And therein lies a huge problem with birthright citizenship.
