Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe accused President Trump of wanting to “reverse the outcome of the Civil War” by wanting to end birthright citizenship, an idea the president floated during a Wednesday press gaggle.
“We are looking at it very seriously, birthright citizenship. If you have a baby in our land, you walk over the border and have a baby, congratulations, the baby is now U.S. citizen,” Trump said. “We are looking at it very seriously. I don’t know how you found that out, but that’s very good. We are looking at birthright citizenship very seriously. It’s frankly ridiculous.”
“This [f–king] racist wants to reverse the outcome of the Civil War, for God’s sake,” Tribe tweeted, adding, “If you agree we can’t let this lunatic get away with that, SAY SO!!! If you’re silent, you’re complicit.”
This fuxxxng racist wants to reverse the outcome of the Civil War, for God’s sake. Over half a million lives were lost in that sacred cause. If you agree we can’t let this lunatic get away with that, SAY SO!!! If you’re silent, you’re complicit. https://t.co/fX69JyTizE
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) August 21, 2019
Birthright citizenship is derived from the 14th Amendment, which was ratified after the Civil War in 1868, and states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Some scholars maintain that the amendment was intended to apply only to the children of slaves, and ought not to be expanded to the children of foreign nationals.
Trump promised to sign an executive order to get rid of birthright citizenship during an Axios interview last fall. The idea was met with resistance from Republicans and Democrats, saying an executive order would not be able to override the 14th Amendment. No such order was ever signed.
