Opinion, Politics & society, Voices

Mr. Trump, birthright citizenship is a settled issue

By Public Affairs

detail from 14th Amendment

“Conservatives should reject [Donald] Trump’s nativist siren song and reaffirm the legal and policy vitality of one of the Republican Party’s greatest achievements: the 14th Amendment,” write law professor John Yoo, who served in the George W. Bush administration, and coauthor David Rivkin, a constitutional litigator, in an L.A. Times op-ed.

“Under its text, structure and history,” they say, “anyone born on American territory, no matter their national origin, ethnicity or station in life, is a U.S. citizen…. The 14th Amendment settled the question of birthright citizenship once and for all.

“Conservatives should not be the ones seeking a new law, or even a constitutional amendment to reverse centuries of American tradition.”

Read their opinion piece in the L.A. Times.