Trump v. Barbara · ¶237

Across administrations, the Executive Branch took the same position. A child born on American soil was not an American citizen when he was “domiciled in” a foreign country. Letter from Sec. of State T. Bayard to B. Winchester (Nov. 28, 1885), in 2 Wharton Digest 399–400. By virtue of his foreign domicile, he was “on his birth ‘subject to a foreign power’ and ‘not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.’” Ibid. “A child born in this country to a foreign father, when taken by his father abroad, acquires the father’s domicil and nationality.” Letter from Sec. of State F. Frelinghuysen to M. Cramer (June 4, 1883), in id., at 397. These statements were not mere abstract positions, but the Executive Branch’s operating rule of decision for decades.

slip opinion, revised 7/01/26
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