Trump v. Barbara · ¶49

For nearly two decades after the Fourteenth Amendment’s ratification, the Executive Branch viewed the Citizenship Clause as “simply an affirmance of the common law of England and of this country.” Memorandum of Secretary of State H. Fish to Mr. Marsh (May 19, 1871), in 2 Digest of the International Law of the United States §183, p. 394 (F. Wharton ed. 2d ed. 1887) (Digest). Under that view, “the status of citizenship” was “fixed by the place of nativity, irrespective of parentage”—with the limited exception of “the children of foreign ministers, and of other persons who may be within our territory with rights of extraterritoriality.” Ibid.

slip opinion, revised 7/01/26
Source edition
Passage preview. Read in context for the complete text, notes and references.