Birthright in Court – Am I illegal?
Trump’s solicitor general has an impossible job defending the indefensible. He tried to argue the legality of Trump’s illegal tariffs and was forced to concede their illegality. Now he is trying to argue that the 14th Amendment doesn’t say what it says. In so doing, much like the tariffs, he has been forced to argue against himself. I thought the main thrust of his argument would be over the interpretation of wording in the amendment which says “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Previously the argument has been over “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” But Sauer is arguing that the overriding factor for determining birthright citizenship should be whether or not a newborn’s parents were “domiciled” in the United States, a term he defined to mean “lawful presence with the intent to remain permanently.” This just plain weird.
Damon Root, writing in Reason (https://reason.com/2026/04/02/gorsuch-barrett-and-roberts-raise-fatal-objections-to-trumps-birthright-citizenship-order/ ) notes that Justice Barett destroyed this line of reasoning when she said What about “the children of slaves who were brought here unlawfully…in defiance of laws forbidding the slave trade. You can imagine that their parents were not only brought here in violation of United States law but were here against their will and so maybe felt allegiance to the countries to where they were from.” And “let’s say they don’t have an intent to stay. They want to escape and go back the second they can. Are they domiciled?” A U.S.-born child of an enslaved person who wanted “to escape and go back” would clearly not qualify for birthright citizenship under Sauer’s argument. And the descendants of such persons, born today, would also be ineligible for birthright citizenship if applied retroactively.
That would mean that any slave who was brought here after the slave trade was declared illegal would never be a citizen. On March 2, 1807, the congress passed a law to “prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States from any foreign kingdom, place or country.” Thus, the descendants of those slaves should not have been granted citizenship by the 14th Amendment. That means that I might not actually be a citizen and have been voting illegally and claiming erroneously that I am a citizen and I should be deported. But to where? Congo? Mali? Cameroon? Benin? Togo? Scotland? Ireland? Britain? Even Norway, Sweden or Russia? All of those are in my gene pool.
Clearly, Sauer’s line of defense is laughable as pointed out by both Barett and Gorsuch. Sauer would have been on somewhat firmer ground with the “jurisdiction” argument and why he chose to argue on the basis of domiciled is a mystery. I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump fires Sauer.
Who will Trump fire next?
Trump has fired Kristi (ex-Border Barbie) Noem and Pam (Blondie) Bondi. Who is next? Some say its FBI director Kash Patel or Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll or Labor secretary Lori Chavez- DeRemer. Despite his loyalty to Trump, Patel seems to have fallen out of favor. Defense secretary Hegseth suddenly fired Driscoll’s chief of staff General Randy George and Driscoll is none too pleased. Chavez-DeRemer is in the midst of an investigation of misconduct between her and two aides who recently resigned. Also it is possible that Tulsi Gabbard may be on the way out as well. Lastly, I am still amazed that Commerce secretary Lutnick hasn’t been fired given his lying about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Off with their heads!
Why is Chad in Haiti?
Why is Haiti such a mess? The Dominican Republic occupies the same island and has a stable functioning government, makes major league baseballs and has great baseball players with 99 in the major leagues. Haiti has none. Haiti is a mess. Gangs control much of Port-au-Prince. The UN actually has a gang suppression force (who knew?) that has just sent in 800 officers from Chad to aid Haitian security forces to try to regain control of Por-au-Prince. The troops from Chad will replace those from Kenya who have been in Haiti for the past 21 months trying to do the same thing – trying to reign in the armed gangs. All total 5,500 troops are expected to assume peacekeeping roles in Haiti. More than 800,000 people have fled their homes in the capitol and over 1.4 million people have been displaced.
This is the country to which Trump has asked the Supreme Court to allow him to deport more than 350,000 Haitians back home as he tries to end their temporary protected status. Kristi (ex-Border Barbie) Noem sought to remove their protected status in February and a Federal court blocked her request. Noem had said that the decision to end the protections “reflects a necessary and strategic vote of confidence in the new chapter Haiti is turning” and the president’s “foreign policy vision of a secure, sovereign and self-reliant Haiti.” Noem acknowledged that certain conditions in Haiti remained “concerning,” but said that parts of the country were “suitable” to return to. What parts? I wonder if the Supreme Court will agree with the administration that conditions in Haiti are now “suitable” for a return in light of what is actually going on in the country. I bet if Haiti had large reserves of oil, that Trump would have sent our troops in to help out the UN’s gang suppression force.
haroldblackphd.com 
I must have been exiled to another blog site but served my sentence as I’m suddenly getting emails again!
I’ve often wondered why Haitians flee to America instead of the DR? Could it be that they control their borders? Haiti seems to be a far worse version of Mexico: overrun by gangs/cartels whose singular interest is financial reward as their people suffer horribly. Is the UN going to suddenly right all wrongs? The organization that places countries like Iran as the head of human rights committees? Kick them out of Turtle Bay and sell the building.
Whom to fire next? Maybe he can be like my friend who was the 10 year CEO at Logitech, whom after doing a phenomenal job literally fired himself because he saw his role (not position) as a stewardship that should not be consumed for decades, but rotated to someone else. Maybe it’s time for Trump. After his Truth Social public tirade yesterday, he needs to turn in the keys.
My fear on birthright citizenship: as often happens, what was intended for good in a very different cultural time (protection for slave citizenship) is now used against us by unsavory characters (now protected children). If a woman flies into the US in her 7th month of pregnancy from Togo, China or Canada, and the baby comes early on American soil, should the baby automatically be considered an American citizen? I think not. I’d prefer that if the person is here LEGALLY in permanent status (green card, H1B visa, etc), then their child could be considered a dual citizen. Otherwise, we are inviting “run the border, drop the baby, declare citizenship” cases, which seem silly. Legislation needed.
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I must have been exiled to another blog site but served my sentence as I’m suddenly getting emails again!
I’ve often wondered why Haitians flee to America instead of the DR? Could it be that they control their borders? Haiti seems to be a far worse version of Mexico: overrun by gangs/cartels whose singular interest is financial reward as their people suffer horribly. Is the UN going to suddenly right all wrongs? The organization that places countries like Iran as the head of human rights committees? Kick them out of Turtle Bay and sell the building.
Whom to fire next? Maybe he can be like my friend who was the 10 year CEO at Logitech, whom after doing a phenomenal job literally fired himself because he saw his role (not position) as a stewardship that should not be consumed for decades, but rotated to someone else. Maybe it’s time for Trump. After his Truth Social public tirade yesterday, he needs to turn in the keys.
My fear on birthright citizenship: as often happens, what was intended for good in a very different cultural time (protection for slave citizenship) is now used against us by unsavory characters (now protected children). If a woman flies into the US in her 7th month of pregnancy from Togo, China or Canada, and the baby comes early on American soil, should the baby automatically be considered an American citizen? I think not. I’d prefer that if the person is here LEGALLY in permanent status (green card, H1B visa, etc), then their child could be considered a dual citizen. Otherwise, we are inviting “run the border, drop the baby, declare citizenship” cases, which seem silly. Legislation needed.
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Welcome back. The DR has its borders closed to Haiti and seeks to expel those who enter illegally. Right now there is a brisk business in birthright visas from several African countries and from China with travel agencies that do a brisk business. The women come here, have their babies and leave giving the children dual citizenship. You are correct in that the way to stop this is to have one parent a legal resident which should also anyone here on a student visa or an H1-B visa too.
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Glad to hear fm Pat..
SCOTUS oral arguments are the best window to American thought. This essay caught the one outstanding point, dealing with slavery …..but if I listen again ( more than an hour long) I’ll find other things…
Not brought up : the US did not recognize the Confederate States as having citizens.
Plantation owners who became citizens of CSA thought they were.
Then after defeat, some CSA went to Mexico or Brazil..
And in Brazil- their children were called Brazilian Descendants..
When the BRAZILIAN Citizens returned to US , the 14th Amrndment opened the doors , to the parents, who were two – time traitors/ enemy CSA combatants..
Haiti is a Godless place. Remember the dust up when the do-gooders evacuated the children to the U.S. ?…
HOWEVER anyone working in hospitals and hotels will know- before the south of the Border folks came- the Haitians, working completely legal, were the backbone of service industries.
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Larry, The union never recognzed the confederacy as legitimate which I believe would mean that those in the confederate states remained defacto citizens. So the children of those who left the states would also be citizens but would not be eligible to be elected president of the US – must be born on US soil. But thanks for bringing that up. I had not thought about that case. Also Haiti is mostly Catholic, which is also the state religion.
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Lots of respect to Catholics. I will mention that Protestant US evangelists say Haiti is a voodoo state- being punished by God. So I m caught in the opinions..
Absolutely the Union didn’t recognize CSA— the greatest demoralization. But the Confederates had their own money and postage stamps- and plagiarized their version of the Constitution. And all this inspires and increases the hopes of today’s Texas secessionists.
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