[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

The Victims of Benny Hinn: 30 Years of Spiritual Deception.

Trump Is Planning to Send Kill Teams to Mexico to Take Out Cartel Leaders

The Great Falling Away in the Church is Here | Tim Dilena

How Ridiculous? Blade-Less Swiss Army Knife Debuts As Weapon Laws Tighten

Jewish students beaten with sticks at University of Amsterdam

Terrorists shut down Park Avenue.

Police begin arresting democrats outside Met Gala.

The minute the total solar eclipse appeared over US

Three Types Of People To Mark And Avoid In The Church Today

Are The 4 Horsemen Of The Apocalypse About To Appear?

France sends combat troops to Ukraine battlefront

Facts you may not have heard about Muslims in England.

George Washington University raises the Hamas flag. American Flag has been removed.

Alabama students chant Take A Shower to the Hamas terrorists on campus.

In Day of the Lord, 24 Church Elders with Crowns Join Jesus in His Throne

In Day of the Lord, 24 Church Elders with Crowns Join Jesus in His Throne

Deadly Saltwater and Deadly Fresh Water to Increase

Deadly Cancers to soon Become Thing of the Past?

Plague of deadly New Diseases Continues

[FULL VIDEO] Police release bodycam footage of Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley traffi

Police clash with pro-Palestine protesters on Ohio State University campus

Joe Rogan Experience #2138 - Tucker Carlson

Police Dispersing Student Protesters at USC - Breaking News Coverage (College Protests)

What Passover Means For The New Testament Believer

Are We Closer Than Ever To The Next Pandemic?

War in Ukraine Turns on Russia

what happened during total solar eclipse

Israel Attacks Iran, Report Says - LIVE Breaking News Coverage

Earth is Scorched with Heat

Antiwar Activists Chant ‘Death to America’ at Event Featuring Chicago Alderman

Vibe Shift

A stream that makes the pleasant Rain sound.

Older Men - Keep One Foot In The Dark Ages

When You Really Want to Meet the Diversity Requirements

CERN to test world's most powerful particle accelerator during April's solar eclipse

Utopian Visionaries Who Won’t Leave People Alone

No - no - no Ain'T going To get away with iT

Pete Buttplug's Butt Plugger Trying to Turn Kids into Faggots

Mark Levin: I'm sick and tired of these attacks

Questioning the Big Bang

James Webb Data Contradicts the Big Bang

Pssst! Don't tell the creationists, but scientists don't have a clue how life began

A fine romance: how humans and chimps just couldn't let go

Early humans had sex with chimps

O’Keefe dons bulletproof vest to extract undercover journalist from NGO camp.

Biblical Contradictions (Alleged)

Catholic Church Praising Lucifer

Raising the Knife

One Of The HARDEST Videos I Had To Make..

Houthi rebels' attack severely damages a Belize-flagged ship in key strait leading to the Red Sea (British Ship)


Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

U.S. Constitution
See other U.S. Constitution Articles

Title: “Official Notice of Dispute” Filed with New Hampshire Attorney General on Four Presidential Candidates’ Eligibility (Rubio, Cruz, Jindal, Santorum)
Source: The Post & Email
URL Source: http://www.thepostemail.com/2015/11 ... ential-candidates-eligibility/
Published: Nov 14, 2015
Author: Robert Laity
Post Date: 2015-11-14 17:57:34 by Hondo68
Keywords: Party of non Americans, globalists, America-last
Views: 5937
Comments: 26

New Hampshire Attorney General Joseph Foster took office in May 2013. New Hampshire’s attorney general is appointed by the governor rather than elected by the people.

(Nov. 13, 2015) — [Editor's Note: The following email was sent to Attorney General Joseph Foster on November 13, 2015.]

From: Robert Laity
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2015 5:17 AM
To: New Hampshire Board of Elections ; Joseph Foster, Attorney General of New Hampshire
Subject:
Fw: OFFICIAL NOTICE OF DISPUTE; AS TO the Non Bona Fides of FOUR Republican Candidates for Presidency of the United States of America

From: Robert Laity
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2015 5:13 AM
To: electionlaw@doj.nh.gov ; Joseph Foster, Attorney General of New Hampshire
Subject:
OFFICIAL NOTICE OF DISPUTE; AS TO the Non Bona Fides of FOUR Republican Candidates for Presidency of the United States of America

Joseph Foster
Attorney General
State of New Hampshire

OFFICIAL NOTICE OF DISPUTE AS TO THE
NON BONA FIDES OF FOUR REPUBLICAN
CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT

Dear Attorney General Foster,

I wish to NOTIFY you that the bona-fides of four Republican Candidates to be President is hereby DISPUTED. It is claimed that the following persons do NOT meet the United States Constitutional requirement that one be a “Natural-Born Citizen” in order to be President under Article II,Sec.1. The U.S. Supreme Court in Minor v Happersett,U.S.Supreme Court 88 U.S. 162 (1875) ruled that:

“The Constitution does not,in words, say who shall be natural born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that….It was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents [Emphasis added] who are citizens became themselves,upon their birth, citizens also….these were natural born citizens”

The court went on to make reference to the citizenship status of those citizens who derived their citizenship from parents who were not citizens themselves, saying “as to this class there have been doubts”.

I am disputing the bona-fides of:

Marco Rubio-NOT an NBC. He was born in the U.S. However his Parents were un-naturalized “Permanent resident” Cuban citizens when he was born

Ted Cruz-NOT an NBC. He was born in Canada to a Cuban Father and American Mother who may have naturalized as a Canadian.

Bobby Jindal- NOT an NBC. He was born in the U.S. to Parents who were un-naturalized Citizens of India at the time of Bob Jindal’s birth.

Rick Santorum-NOT an NBC. He was born in the U.S. to a Father who was an Italian citizen not naturalized at the time of Rick’s birth.
This is a repeat of what Barack Obama did in 2008 and 2012 and John McCain did in 2008. Both of them are ineligible.

See: There is NO “President” Obama:

http://www.thepostemail.com/09/17//2010/there-is-no-president-obama/

Submitted,

Robert C. Laity
Founder and President
Society for the Preservation of
our American Republic
43 Mosher Drive
Tonawanda, NY 14150

I understand that State of New Hampshire law provides that this complaint be addressed within (90) days. Date of Complaint is 11/13/2015.


Poster Comment:

Let the record show that the GOP is pushing a record number of ineligable candidates this time, 4 citizens of the world, America last globalist bankster puppets. (1 image)

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 5.

#5. To: hondo68 (#0)

I wish to NOTIFY you that the bona-fides of four Republican Candidates to be President is hereby DISPUTED. It is claimed that the following persons do NOT meet the United States Constitutional requirement that one be a “Natural-Born Citizen” in order to be President under Article II,Sec.1. The U.S. Supreme Court in Minor v Happersett,U.S.Supreme Court 88 U.S. 162 (1875) ruled that:

“The Constitution does not,in words, say who shall be natural born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that….It was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents [Emphasis added] who are citizens became themselves,upon their birth, citizens also….these were natural born citizens”

Minor v. Happersett, 88 US 162, 167-168:

The Constitution does not in words say who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. At common law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners. Some authorities go further and include as citizens children born within the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of their [88 U. S. 168] parents. As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first. For the purposes of this case, it is not necessary to solve these doubts.

No issue of citizenship was before the Court in 1875 in Minor, because,

Page 7 of the Transcript of Record for Minor v. Happersett shows the "Cause Submitted on agreed statement."

The Agreed statement begins on page 8 of the Transcript of Record, and on page 9 documents that both sides agreed:

It is admitted by the pleadings that the plaintiff is a native-born, free white citizen of the United States and of the State of Missouri; that the defendant is a registrar, qualified and acting as such; that the plaintiff, in proper time and in proper form, made application to him to be registered, and that the defendant refused to register the plaintiff solely for the reason that she is a female, (and that she possesses the qualifications of an elector in all respects, except as to the matter of sex, as before stated.)

[emphasis added]

The matter of Ms. Minor's citizenship was not at issue. As submitted, the only question at issue was whether a woman could be disenfranchised due to not being male. Therefore, the Court actually ruled that,

Minor v. Happersett, 88 US 162, 170:

The Fourteenth Amendment did not affect the citizenship of women any more than it did of men. In this particular, therefore, the rights of Mrs. Minor do not depend upon the amendment. She has always been a citizen from her birth and entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizenship.

And, therefore, the Minor court, while expressing some doubts existed in 1875, did not have jurisdiction to decide those doubts, and did not resolve those doubts. As a legal citation upon the issue, it is pure bullshit.

And such doubts were extinguished by a series of Federal cases culminating in the great case of Wong Kim Ark.

Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162 (1875)

At 165:

The CHIEF JUSTICE delivered the opinion of the court. The question is presented in this case, whether, since the adoption of the fourteenth amendment, a woman, who is a citizen of the United States and of the State of Missouri, is a voter in that State, notwithstanding the provision of the constitution and laws of the State, which confine the right of suffrage to men alone.

At 167-168.

Whoever, then, was one of the people of either of these States when the Constitution of the United States was adopted, became ipso facto a citizen—a member of the nation created by its adoption. He was one of the persons associating together to form the nation, and was, consequently, one of its original citizens. As to this there has never been a doubt. Disputes have arisen as to whether or not certain persons or certain classes of persons were part of the people at the time, but never as to their citizenship if they were.

Additions might always be made to the citizenship of the United States in two ways: first, by birth, and second, by naturalization. This is apparent from the Constitution itself, for it provides† that "no person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President,"‡ and that Congress shall have power "to establish a uniform rule of naturalization." Thus new citizens may be born or they may be created by naturalization. The Constitution does not, in words, say who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. At common-law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives, or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners. Some authorities go further and include as citizens children born within the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of their

* Articles of Confederation, § 3, 1 Stat. at Large, 4.

† Article 2, § 1.

‡ Article 1, § 8.

- - - - -

parents. As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first. For the purposes of this case it is not necessary to solve these doubts. It is sufficient for everything we have now to consider that all children born of citizen parents within the jurisdiction are themselves citizens. The words "all children" are certainly as comprehensive, when used in this connection, as "all persons," and if females are included in the last they must be in the first. That they are included in the last is not denied. In fact the whole argument of the plaintiffs proceeds upon that idea.

As the Court stated,

As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first. For the purposes of this case it is not necessary to solve these doubts.

As for the purposes of Minor, it was not necessary to resolve the issue of the citizenship of children born within the jurisdiction of foreign parents, the Court went right ahead and did not decide it.

That is not to say that the U.S. Supreme Court did not decide it. It did and it is very well known, The case is Wong Kim Ark.

Fortuately, I just happen to have a complete copy of the Transcript of Record in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898).

Brief on Behalf of Appellant (United States Government)

In stating the case presented to the court, George D. Collins representing Appellant (United States) wrote at 2:

The question presented by this appeal may be thus stated: Is a person born within the United States of alien parents domiciled therein a citizen thereof by the fact of his birth? The appellant maintains the negative, and in that behalf assigns as error the ruling of the district court that the respondent is a natural-born citizen....

For anyone who is still confused regarding what the issue before the court was, counsel for Appellant, who brought the appeal, made it explicitly clear.

Of course, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against his argument and there is over a century of precedent that what has been recycled as birther blather is nonsense.

Indeed for any who didn't get it at page 2, Collins summarized in his final paragraph at 39:

To hold that Wong Kim Ark is a natural-born citizen within the ruling now quoted, is to ignore the fact that at his birth he became a subject of China by reason of the allegiance of his parents to the Chinese Emperor.

The Appellant explicitly, albeit unsuccessfully, argued that the District Court erred in ruling "that the respondent is a natural-born citizen." The Supreme Court affirmed that ruling of the District Court.

And, from the Brief of the WINNING side, Wong Kim Ark:

Extracts from Brief on Behalf of Respondent (Appellee Won Kim Ark)

All italics as in original, boldface added, hyperlinks added.

- - -

Resp. Br. at 1

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

October Term, 1895

No. 449

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellant,

vs.

WONG KIM ARK, Appellee

- - -

Resp. Br. at 4

The single question presented upon this appeal is this: Are the children born in this country of alien residents not connected with the diplomatic service citizens of the United States?

- - -

Resp. Br. at 6-8

Briefs of the Government

Before proceeding to any independent discussion of this subject it will perhaps be useful to refer to the main points upon which the Government relies in support of its contention that Wong Kim Ark was not at the time of his birth "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States.

It is substantially conceded that the Fourteenth Amendment is but declaratory of the law as it previously existed, and it is practically admitted that, sinch the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment, every judicial decision directly upon the question in controversy has been adverse to the Government's present position.

It is, however, urged most earnestly by the Solicitor General and by Mr. Collins, the amicus curiae, that this long-standing interpretation of who was a citizen of the United States is wrong, and has been wrong from the very beginning, in that the Courts have resorted to the common law to aid them in their decisions, while the question was really one of the law of nations. Further than that, the Government seriously presses the point that there is no common law in the United States, and that, therefore, in ascertaining the meaning of words used in the Constitution, but not there defined, it is not permissible to inquire how they were commonly understood by lawyers at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, or in other words what their meaning was at common law.

The two fundamental theories, therefore, now advanced by the Government, and upon which its entire argument stands or falls are:

First. That there is no common law in the United States.

Second. That the question of citizenship in a nation is to be determined by the rules of international law.

(a) Perhaps we do not fully understand the argument of the Government that there is no common law in the United States, but as we read the authorities which have been cited by the Solicitor General, the Court has simply held that "there are no common law offenses against the United States" (United States vs. Britton, 108 U. S. 199-206).

This proposition is too well established to admit of dispute, but it is not clear how it can affect the present discussion. The question whether a man is "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States is not, we take it, to be determined by the common law, but by the principles of common law, which is a very different matter.

In other words, it has often been decided by this Court that, in determining the meaning of the words used in the Constitution and the statutes of the United States and not therein defined, it is both proper and necessary to seek in the common law, as the source and origin of our jurisprudence, there true definition; and the question fairly raised here is not whether there is a common law in the United States, but whether it is admissible, in construing and defining words used in the Constitution, to refer to the common law.

The case of Smith vs. Alabama, 124 U. S. 465, is referred to upon the brief of the Solicitor General in support of the proposition that there is no common law in the United States.

If the counsel for the Government had read this case through he would have found on page 478 the following statement:

"There is, however, one clear exception the the statement that there is no national common law. The interpretation of the Constitution of the United States is necessarily influenced by the fact that its provisions are framed in the language of the English common law and are to be read in the light of its history. The code of constitutional and statutory construction which therefore is gradually formed by the judgments of this Court in the application of the Constitution and the laws and treaties made in pursuance thereof, has for its basis, so much of the common law as may be implied in the subject and constitutes a common law resting on national authority."

- - -

Resp. Br. at 10-11:

(b) The second theory of the appellant is that the question of citizenship in the United States is to be determined by the law of nations and not by the law of the United States.

We should have supposed it difficult to find a question more widely separated from the domain of international law than the status of a citizen in any country. It would seem as if the right of citizenship was for each country to determine for itself, and that any nation would guard with jealous interest the right to decide who should be its members. That is to say, it is a matter of local and national law, as distinguished from international law, and the United States would be the last to surrender the privilege of determining, by its own law, who were or were not its citizens.

"The answer to the question, Who is a citizen? is different in different States, and depends on the laws and constitution of each." (Aristotle, Politics, Book III, c. s. 2 and 3.)

This proposition of this government has, we think, arisen from a mistaken notion as to the true character of the question in this case, and it seems comewhat remarkable that the Solicitor General should take the position that the Government of the United States is to be administered, not in accordance with the laws of the United States, but in accordance with the law of nations, and that the vital question of who compose the great body of their citizens is to be determined, not by the law of the United States, but by the rules of international law.

In the case of Scott v. Sandford, 19 How., 399, 451; Chief Justice Taney used the following language:

"But in considering the question before us, it must be borne in mind that there is no law of nations standing between the prople of the United States and their Government, and interfering with their relation to each other. The powers of the Government and the rights of the citizen under it, are positive and practical regulations plainly written down. * * * And no laws or usages of other nations, or reasoning of statesmen or jurists * * * can enlarge the powers of the Government or take from the citizens the rights they have reserved."

Mr. Justice Story, in Inglis vs. Trustees of the Sailors' Snug Harbor, 3 Pet., 99, 162, when speaking upon the question of citizenship, said:

"The ground of this doctrine is that each Government had a right to decide for itself who should be admitted or deemed citizens."

Mr. Stanberry, then Attorney-General, said in Warren's Case, 12 Opin. Atty.-Gen., 319, 325:

"A question as the status or citizenship, if it arose in the United States, would be determined by our own law."

- - -

Resp. Br. at 13-14:

It is not at all certain that this principle of International law, as it is called, which is supposed to declare that a child born to aliens while residing in a foreign country takes the nationality of his father, is anything more than a name. As a matter of fact, no nation, so far as we have been been able to ascertain, decides or pretends to decide the status of its citizens by any other law than its own.

It is true that different nations have different laws upon this subject, and the laws of some of these nations are more or less in accord, but there is no great unanimity among them.

England now holds to the rule that birth within its dominions makes a man a subject of the Queen, unless, if born of aliens, he elects the nationality of his parents (33 Vict., Chap 14).

In France, a similar doctrine prevails, and it is as follows:

"The French law considers all children of foreigners born in France as French citizens, unless before coming of age they decline French citizenship. * * * Otherwise they are amenable to obligatory military service and punishment as deserters if they endeavor to evade it" (49 Alb. L. J., 20).

In Denmark, Portugal and Holland the law is apparently the same as that of France, as Lord Cockburn in his work on Nationality says, at pages 14 and 15, that birth within their dominions confers citizenship on the offspring of alien parents, subject to the right of the individual concerned to reject it at majority.

Another rule is adopted by Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, the Grand Duchy of Baden, Russia, Russia-Poland and the Ottoman Empire, where birth within their dominions confers citizenship on the offspring of alien parents on the right being claimed on certain specified conditions (Cockburn on Nationality, 14 and 15).

It is clear, therefore, that each country has enacted its own law as to who is or who is not its citizen, and has never fallen back upon any principle of international law for the decision of the question.

All that can possibly be argued from the state of the law of citizenship in the different countries of Europe is that it might be advisable for the people of the United States to pass a law or amend their constitution, if they saw fit, so as to conform with the laws of the majority of these countries, but we fail to see how the counsel for the government have shown that the status of a citizen was or ever can be determined in the Courts of a country be the law of nations or by any other law than its own. It other words, the question before this honorable Court is not what is the proper policy for the United States to adopt, but what is the meaning of an amendment of their constitution, and the constitution must be interpreted, as we think, by the light of the principles of our own law and not by the law of other countries or the law of nations. "The laws of the United States determine what persons shall be regarded as citizens, irrespective of such persons' pleasure or tthe laws or pleasure of any other government" (State vs. Adams, 45 Iowa, 99, 101).

- - -

Resp. Br. at 28-29:

In McKay vs. Campbell, 2 Sawy., 118, the syllabus is as follows:

"By the common law a child born within the allegiance of the United States is born a subject there of, without reference to the political status or condition of the parents."

Also at 29:

"The term 'citizen' as understood in our law is precisely analagous to the term subject in the common law, and the change of phrase has entirely resulted from the change of government. The sovereignty has been transferred from one man to the collective body of the people, and he who before as a 'subject of the King' is now 'a citizen of the State'" (State vs. Manuel, 3 Dev. & Battle's N. C. R., 26).

- - -

Resp Br. at 31:

In the first section of the act of Congress approved March 26, 1790 (1 Stat. at Large, 103), it is enacted:

"That any alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof."

We take it that no difference in meaning can be assigned to the clause "under the jurisdiction of the United States," found the the naturalization act, and the words of the Fourteenth Amendment, "subject to the jurisdiction thereof."

- - -

Resp. Br. at 32:

It is a little difficult to see what distinction can be drawn between the two cases. It an alien who resides in the territory of this country is "under the jurisdiction of the United States" for the purpose of naturalization, it would seem to follow that a man born here and always residing here must be "subject to the jurisdiction of the United States" for the purpose of naturalization, it would seem to follow that a man born here and always residing here must be "subject to the jurisdiction thereof," and must have been so at his birth.

- - -

Resp. Br. at 34-35:

We do not see what substantial distinction can be drawn between the words of the Civil Rights Bill and the clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In the once case the condition of citizenship is birth "not subject to any foreign power," and in the other it is birth "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States.

The Civil Rights bill was vetoed by President Johnson, and his interpretation of these words perhaps goes as far to show what they were supposed to mean at the time they were used as any other. It was very clear to him that a man in the position of Wong Kim Ark was not subject to the jurisdiction of any foreign power, and was subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, for he says in his veto message (Congr. Globe, 39th Congress, p. 1679):

"By the first section of the bill all persons born in the United States, and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indains not taxed, are declared to be citizens of the United States. This provision comprehends the Chinese of the Pacific States, Indians subject to taxation, the people called Gypsies, as well as the entire race designated as blacks, persons of color, negroes, mullatoes and persons of African blood. Every individual of those races born in the United States is, by the bill, made a citizen of the United States."

In United States vs. Rhodes, 1 Abb. U.S. Rep., 28, the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Bill came up for decision in a Federal Court, apparently, for the first time. Mr. Justice Swayne in his opinion said at pages 38, 40 and 41:

"The act of Congress confers citizenship. Who are citizens, and what are their rights? The Constitution uses the words 'citizen' and 'natural-born citizen'; but neither that instrument nor any act of Congress has attempted to define their meaning. * * * All persons born in the allegiance of the king are natural-born subjects and all persons born in the allegiance of the United States are natural-born citizens. Birth and allegiance go together. Such is the rule of the common law, and it is the common law of this country as well as of England. There are two exceptions, and ony two, to the universality of its application. The children of ambassadors are in theory born in the allegiance of the powers the ambassadors represent, and slaves in legal contemplation are property, and not persons. * * *

"'Citizens under our Constitution and laws means free inhabitants born within the United States or naturalized under the laws of Congress.'

"We find no warrant for the opinion that this great principle of the common law has ever been changed in the United States. It has always obtained here with the same vigor, and subject only to the same exceptions, since as before the Revolution."

- - -

Resp Br. at 36-37:

We now come to the construction of this amendment by the lower Courts, and the most important case is that of In re Look Tin Sing, 10 Sawy., 353 [21 Fed. Rep. 905], decided by Mr. Justice Field. The same question was presented in this case in precisely the same way in which it arises here, and it was the held that a Chinaman born in the United States of parents not engaged in any diplomatic capacity was a citizen thereof. The opinion of Mr. Justice Field was concurred in by Judges Sawyer, Sabin and Hoffman. At page 359 the Court said:

"The jurisdiction of the United States over him at the time of his birth was exclusive of that of any other country."

This is the idea which we have before sought to convey, viz.: that this country could not permit another nation to claim jurisdiction of a man born here. It, is, perhaps, conceivable that this Government might in the future by some law permit the individual himself to elect, when of age, what nation he chose for his country, but it is out of the question for our Government to allow another government to say what country a person born within our territory belongs.

- - -

Resp. Br. at 39:

Perhaps the latest case on this subject is Benny vs. O'Brien, 32 Atlantic Reporter, 696. The question before the Supreme Court of New Jersey was "whether a person born in this country of alien parents who, prior to his birth, had their domicile here, is a citizen of the United States," and in a very well considered opinion it was held that he was, the Court saying, at page 697:

"Two facts must concur -- the person must be born here, and he must be subject to the jurisdiction of the United States according to the Fourteenth Amendment, which means, according to the Civil Rights Act, that the person born here is not subject to any foreign power. Allan Benny, whose parents were domiciled here at the time of his birth, is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and is not subject to any foreign power. * * * Therefore Allan Benny is a citizen of the United States in virtue of his birth here of alien parents, who, at the time of his birth, were domiciled in this country."

- - -

Resp. Br. at 41-2

Whenever international law conflicts with the local law of a particular country, "the law of nations, as to particular matters, may be, as for such particular countries, either expanded or contracted by local legislation" (Secretary Bayard, supra). This principle our government would be the first to adopt should any foreign country send its emissaries to our shores for the purpose of compelling those of its subjects who had emigrated to the United States and had not become naturalized or their children born on our soil, to return to the country of their origin. Even enmity to the Chinese race would not permit the creation of any such dangerous precedent.

If this case should be decided in favor of the Government, and it should be held that children born in this country to an alien resident are not "subject to the jurisdiction of the United States" and are "subject to a foreign power," what reply can the Secretary of State make to the Government of Russia or Germany or England in the case suggested? Must he say:

I admit that the highest tribunal of my country has decided that the men you are taking away by force to join your armies are not 'subject to the jurisdiction' of my government, and are subject to the jurisdiction of yours, but that decision does not mean that they are subject to the jurisdiction of your government in the sense that obedience can be compelled to that government and its laws, or that they are 'not subject to the jurisdiction' of my government in the sense that the protection of the Constitution and the laws of this country is withheld from them, and these men, born in this country of subjects of your governemtn, who have been seized by your officers, must be released or the friendly relations between our two governments must cease.

- - -

Resp. Br. at 48:

So, in the case at bar, the people of the United States have not denied to the children born in this country of alien parents the right of citizenship therein, nor have they passed any law declaring them to be the citizens or subjects of the country of their parents, and the question whether they might have done so does not arise in this case.

Our position is that any such discussion is foreign to the issue here, which is what is meant by the words "subject to the jurisdiction thereof," and we respectfully submit that the people of this country intended that these words should be construed in accordance with the principles of law of which they and their fathers before them had knowledge, and not in accordance with the Roman law or the law of any European country with which they were unfamiliar. In other words, they intended that the status of citizenship in the United States should be determined in accordance with the law of the United States and not upon the principles of the Roman law.

- - -

Resp. Br. at 50-51:

In the Lynch case, therefore, the identical question was argued and decided which is presented here, viz.: Is the child born in the United States to an alien resident a citizen thereof?

The only difference between the two cases is that the appellee in the present case has always lived in the United States, whereas Julia Lynch was taken out of the country when still an infant in arms and did not return until she was fifteen years old.

It was urged in behalf of the complainant Lynch, as it is argued here, that there was no common law in the United States. The Chancellor fully and carefully considered the question from this point of view. He quoted with approval from the speech of Mr. Bayard in the House of Representatives in 1802, in which he said: "The Judges of the United States have held generally that the Constitution of the United States was predicated upon an existing common law. * * * The Constitution is unintelligible without reference to the common law. * * * Without this law the Constitution becomes a dead letter" (p. 654), and expressed himself in the following language at page 652:

"The Constitution of the United States, like those of all the original States, * * * presupposed the existence and authority of the common law. The principles of that law were the basis of our institutions. In adopting the State and national Constitutions * * * our ancestors rejected so much of the common law as was then inapplicable to their situation, and prescribed new rules for their regulation and government. But in doing so, they did not reject the body of the common law. They founded their respective State Constitutions and the great national compact upon its existing principles, so far as they were consistent and harmonious with the provisions of those Constitutions."

After a most careful analysis of all the authorities on the subject, it was decided that Julia Lynch was a native-born citizen of the United States, and the Chancellor said at page 663:

"Upon principle, therefore, I can entertain no doubt, but that by the law of the United States, every person born within the dominions and allegiance of the United States, whatever were the situation of his parents, is a natural-born citizen."

In Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898), the Court stated:

At 702-03:

The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, in the declaration that

"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,"

contemplates two sources of citizenship, and two only: birth and naturalization. Citizenship by naturalization can only be acquired by naturalization under the authority and in the forms of law. But citizenship by birth is established by the mere fact of birth under the circumstances defined in the Constitution. Every person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, becomes at once a citizen of the United States, and needs no naturalization. A person born out of the jurisdiction of the United States can only become a citizen by being naturalized, either by treaty, as in the case of the annexation of foreign territory, or by authority of Congress, exercised either by declaring certain classes of persons to be citizens, as in the enactments conferring citizenship upon foreign-born children of citizens, or by enabling foreigners individually to become citizens by proceedings in the judicial tribunals, as in the ordinary provisions of the naturalization acts.

At 704:

The fact, therefore, that acts of Congress or treaties have not permitted Chinese persons born out of this country to become citizens by naturalization, cannot exclude Chinese persons born in this country from the operation of the broad and clear words of the Constitution, "All persons born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

At 705:

The evident intention, and the necessary effect, of the submission of this case to the decision of the court upon the facts agreed by the parties were to present for determination the single question stated at the beginning of this opinion, namely, whether a child born in the United States, of parent of Chinese descent, who, at the time of his birth, are subjects of the Emperor of China, but have a permanent domicil and residence in the United States, and are there carrying on business, and are not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity under the Emperor of China, becomes at the time of his birth a citizen of the United States. For the reasons above stated, this court is of opinion that the question must be answered in the affirmative.

Order affirmed.

The lower court that was affirmed, concluded at 71 Fed. Rep 392:

But it would be useless to incumber this already lengthy opinion with further argument and observations upon this interesting question. Arriving at the conclusion, as I do, after careful investigation and much consideration, that the supreme court has as yet announced no doctrine at variance with that contained in the Look Tin Sing decision and the other cases alluded to, I am constrained to follow the authority and law enunciated in this circuit. Counsel for the United States have argued with considerable force against the common-law rule and its recognition, as being illogical, and likely to lead to perplexing, and perhaps serious, international conflicts, if followed in all cases. But these observations are, obviously, addressed to the policy of the rule, and not to its interpretation. The doctrine of the law of nations, that the child follows the nationality of the parents, and that citizenship does not depend upon mere accidental place of birth, is undoubtedly more logical, reasonable, and satisfactory, but this consideration will not justify this court in declaring it to be the law against controlling judicial authority. It may be that the executive departments of the government are at liberty to follow this international rule in dealing with questions of citizenship which arise between this and other countries, but that fact does not establish the law for the courts in dealing with persons within our own territory. In this case the question to be determined is as to the political status and rights of Wong Kim Ark under the law in this country. No foreign power has intervened or appears to be concerned in the matter. From the law as announced and the facts as stipulated, I am of opinion that Wong Kim Ark is a citizen of the United States within the meaning of the citizenship clause of the fourteenth amendment. He has not forfeited his right to return to this country. His detention, therefore, is illegal. He should be discharged, and it is so ordered.

nolu chan  posted on  2015-11-14   20:50:28 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 5.

        There are no replies to Comment # 5.


End Trace Mode for Comment # 5.

TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Please report web page problems, questions and comments to webmaster@libertysflame.com