Trump v. Barbara · ¶361

A rule that recognized the citizenship of children born to temporary visitors would have increased dual nationality. At the adoption of the Citizenship Clause, as today, most nations treated the children of their citizens born while temporarily abroad as citizens. See Spiro, 46 Emory L. J., at 1426; 1 W. Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 373 (1768). As a result, a child born in the United States of a temporary visitor would have immediately been a citizen of his home nation. If the Court’s interpretation were correct, the child would immediately also become a dual citizen. It is unlikely that the Reconstruction Congress constitutionalized such a rule. By contrast, the domicile requirement mitigated the problem of dual nationality. Each person had one and only one domicile, so tying citizenship to domicile avoided dual citizenship. See Inhabitants of Abington, 40 Mass., at…

slip opinion, revised 7/01/26
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