Trump v. Barbara · ¶483
The clearest evidence was provided when the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause was presented in the Senate. As originally drafted, the Fourteenth Amendment did not define citizenship. See Cong. Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., 2286. Senator Jacob Howard introduced an amendment that remedied that problem. Id., at 2890. Senator Lyman Trumbull, the author of the citizenship clause in the Civil Rights Act, explained just what the new amendment meant: “The provision is, that ‘all persons born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.’ That means ‘subject to the complete jurisdiction thereof.’ . . . What do we mean by ‘subject to the juris diction of the United States?’ Not owing allegiance to anybody else. That is what it means.” Id., at 2893 (emphasis added). This language, he said, was “better than the language in the civil rights bill,” but the…Read in context ›
slip opinion, revised 7/01/26
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