Trump v. Barbara · ¶51

As the era of Reconstruction faded, however, so too did the promise of birthright citizenship. Uncertainty came with the first Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, ch. 126, 22 Stat. 58, and the election of President Cleveland, the first Democrat to hold the office since the Civil War. See F. Douglass, Speech (Apr. 16, 1885), in 4 Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass 413 (1955). It was around this time that the State Department began to deny citizenship to those with “dual or doubtful allegiance,” 2 Digest 402; and it was around this time that several scholars proposed a new theory of the Clause, one based on “international law,” F. Wharton, Conflict of Laws §10, p. 35 (2d ed. 1881) (Wharton).

slip opinion, revised 7/01/26
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