The Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment 

There’s a terrific symposium on an important new book by Randy Barnett and Evan Bernick, The Original Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment: Its Letter and Spirit, at Law and Liberty. It’s especially interesting because much of the focus of Barnett and Bernick’s book is rightly on the Privileges or Immunities clause, which should have pride of place in Section 1 of the amendment. Yet it’s been neglected by the Court, and even dismissed by Justice Scalia as the “darling of the professoriate” (an odd move for a putative originalist). The essays engaging the book—especially by Christopher Green, Julia Mahoney, and Ilan Wurman—are really … Continue reading The Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment 

August 13: Can Foreigners Become Citizens and Govern?

On August 13th, they took up a debate about whether to require four years or seven years of citizenship before someone was eligible to serve in the House of Representatives. Ultimately, they settle on seven years and the Constitution still requires seven years of citizenship before being eligible. But their debate on this question is interesting for what it reveals about the founders’ varying conception of citizenship. Elbridge Gerry voices what we might call the “nativist” worry: “Persons having foreign attachments will be sent among us & insinuated into our councils, in order to be made instruments for their purposes.” … Continue reading August 13: Can Foreigners Become Citizens and Govern?