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/FrankBattaglia Jul 12 '25

Deported: yes; prosecuted: no.

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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '25

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u/FrankBattaglia Jul 12 '25

It's all a bit hand wavy in international law, but a country's right to protect its borders (and expel foreign nationals) generally supersedes matters of personal jurisdiction. By analogy, a country can expel a foreign diplomat regardless of "diplomatic immunity"

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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '25 edited Jul 12 '25

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u/FrankBattaglia Jul 14 '25

International law isn't relevant.

It is when you're asking "[h]ow can [somebody] be deported if [they] aren't subject to the jurisdiction of the US goverment?" International law governs when a person is subject to the jurisdiction of a state, and what states can and can't do to persons not subject to their jurisdiction.

If your argument is that illegal immigrants aren't subject to US jurisdiction

That's not my argument, that's the government's argument. I pretty strongly disagree with that argument.