Jackson criticized her fellow justice’s “ahistorical” interpretation of the 14th Amendment.
Echoing the Trump administration’s sentiments, Thomas argued in his dissent that the 14th Amendment “was designed and understood to secure equal rights for the freed blacks but has instead been repurposed for political projects that the Reconstruction Congress did not support.”
Thomas also argued that the Civil Rights Act, which became the foundation for the 14th Amendment, had ensured citizenship to people born in the U.S. and “not subject to any foreign power.”
“The Citizenship Clause [of the 14th Amendment], which the same Congress passed shortly after the Civil Rights Act, was understood to have the same meaning,” Thomas wrote. “It guaranteed citizenship to persons who were both ‘born . . . in the United States’ and ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’”
Jackson called this “ahistorical,” denying that the “text at issue conferred citizenship only on freed Blacks and those in analogous situations.”
Jackson also blamed the Trump administration and Thomas for repurposing the amendment, adding that the Civil Rights Act initially only included Black people but was later expanded to include people of all ethnic backgrounds.
I didn’t realize that there was no constitutional right to birthright citizenship before the Civil War. TIL
Apparently, every state had its own laws and standards about who was a citizen, although there were a few congressional acts that established a basic framework.
It seems wild to me that we started a whole country and we didn’t even figure out who was a member of it.
Keep in mind that the US was originally structured more like the EU. We spent about a century slowly shifting from a collection of nation states in an alliance to one big nation state.
Well it used to be much harder to have identifying documents. So if you were in the country, you were part of the country.
That’s why there was so much emphasis on Landowners. Owning land required some form of government documentation, like a Deed. Beyond that, there were no Drivers Licenses, Social Security Cards, Student IDs, Work IDs, etc.
A country of immigrants, no less.
Hey now sometimes you need to filter for the right immigrants, like can you imagine the absolute chaos that a Brandenburger could cause.
I don’t know the point of this joke, just kinda felt like bashing the Prussians.
Who is this “we”? I’m an American. None of my ancestors were there when white people claimed this land theirs.
“We” is used in a lot of ways. We, as a nation; we, as a civilization; we, as a species. The Royal “we.”
Weird of you to assume I meant “we as a race.” I’m not even white.
Are Native Americans included in your ‘we’? Are Black Americans included in your ‘we’? Are Mexican Americans included in your ‘we’? Who is the ‘we’ in ‘we started a whole country and we didn’t even figure out who was a member of it’
Here’s how I would phrase it: I think the Europeans who wrote the constitution and declaration of independence are idiots and shouldn’t be making nations, because they can’t seem to figure their shit out.
See the difference?
The difference between what you are saying and what the other person is saying is that you take no responsibility for anything, saying everything bad is because of someone else. The other person is including themselves, even though they never voted on shit 200 years ago, as part of the problem. You’re like one of those people who complain about who is President and what stupid things Congress is doing… but you were too lazy or too apathetic to actually vote.
By your idiotic definition, nobody alive today is “we.”
👍
You sound exhausting. Have you ever tried not being quite so insufferable?
Don’t care.
American law continues to be built on “oh we forgot to make that a law” and “oh we didn’t think that would matter”.