Trump v. Barbara · ¶161

The Citizenship Clause was consistently interpreted not to apply to the children of foreign temporary visitors, who were by definition not domiciled in the United States. Regardless of administration or party, the Federal Government for decades after ratification regularly denied claims to citizenship by children who were born in the United States but not domiciled here. When a child was “born” in the United States to parents “domiciled” abroad, he was “not, therefore, under the statute and the Constitution a citizen of the United States by birth.” Letter from Sec. of State T. Bayard to B. Winchester (Nov. 28, 1885), in 2 F. Wharton, Digest of International Law 399–400 (2d ed. 1887) (Wharton Digest). Scholars agreed: A child “born within the territory of the United States, of alien parents” was not a citizen unless his parents were “permanently domiciled within the United States.” W.…

slip opinion, revised 7/01/26
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