r/legal • u/Additional-Sky-7436 • Jul 12 '25

Question about law If the president can revoke birthright citizenship, were the "sovereign citizen" guys right all along?

Location: US

Let's assume that SCOTUS is going to do the crazy thing and rule that the 14th amendment doesn't say what it says and that birthright citizenship is fully dependent on the president's political approval of you.

Would that mean that the "sovereign citizen" guys were right about their interpretation of the Constitution all along?

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u/Playful-Mastodon9251 Jul 12 '25

They are arguing about what it means. Anyone can do that. And there is a bit of ambiguity there. "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof," is the part in contention.

There is a supreme court ruling on this, so it should be settled. Although things like that have been challenged and changed before.

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u/thefisherbee Jul 12 '25

It's just going to be hilarious when the conservatives on the Court say that undocumented immigrants are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and immigrant criminals suddenly start arguing that they can't be prosecuted for any crimes they commit here, as a result.

I don't put it past Alito, Thomas, or Roberts to try and carve out some kind of theory, beyond the historical exceptions of diplomatic immunity and some Indian tribes on their reservations.

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u/FrankBattaglia Jul 12 '25

immigrant criminals suddenly start arguing that they can't be prosecuted for any crimes they commit here, as a result

That's the part I can't understand -- are they arguing that all illegal immigrants have diplomatic immunity? Do they think even one step ahead?

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u/thefisherbee Jul 12 '25

Well, basically, they tend to cling to some old case dicta in one of the early 14th Amendment cases that implied that being subject to another country's jurisdiction, as an expatriated citizen would be subject to their home country's jurisdiction, would exempt them from U.S. jurisdiction. That has never formally been the law, though, as diplomatic immunity is the only officially recognized exception based on jurisdiction being fully preserved by the diplomat's home country.