Ending Birthright Citizenship: The Misreading of "Subject to the Jurisdiction Thereof"
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
Abstract
Recent times reveal the evolution of what this Article labels as "new birtherism. " Led by President Trump, the new birthers include scholars, politicians, and policymakers, who, in one form or another, argue that the text of the Citizenship Clause does not mean what it literally says. They seek to reinterpret and redefine the "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" language of the Citizenship Clause, as well as the plain meaning of the word ''jurisdiction, " to that end. In other words, Trump and his scholars attempt to use the language of the Fourteenth Amendment as a condition to attaining birthright citizenship. While a clever, albeit clumsy linguistic and grammatical ploy, this Article debunks and exposes the basic fault of their effort with their own preferred analytical devise: a plain meaning analysis through an exhaustive legislative and Supreme Court examination of the Citizenship Clause to determine its meaning at the time of enactment. As established in this Article, the new birthers, which expressly hang their hat on originalism, have no support in the text of the Fourteenth Amendment, its plain meaning understanding by the Thirty-Ninth Congress when the Fourteenth Amendment was enacted, or in any of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Citizenship Clause.
Recommended Citation
Ediberto Román,
Ending Birthright Citizenship: The Misreading of "Subject to the Jurisdiction Thereof"
(2026).
Available at: https://ecollections.law.fiu.edu/faculty_publications/535
