Trump v. Barbara · ¶465

With this understanding of the CRA’s citizenship test in mind, we may return to the text of the Fourteenth Amendment. When Congress framed the citizenship test in the Fourteenth Amendment, it consolidated the CRA’s two exceptions to citizenship by birth—for “Indians not taxed” and those “subject to any foreign power.” The Fourteenth Amendment used the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States to cover both of those exceptions. Therefore, a person who is “subject to any foreign power” is not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. This unique formulation uses the term “jurisdiction” in a very specific sense. It refers to a form of jurisdiction that is exclusive, that is not in any way limited by any power possessed by any foreign country.

slip opinion, revised 7/01/26
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