Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/30/trump-says-hes-going-to-end.html
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" Trump says he’s going to end constitutional right to birthright citizenship with an executive order"
The Constitution says “oh no he is not.”
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This is one of the major red flags I’ve been keeping an eye out for. The regime successfully doing this would provide the foundation for revoking the citizenship rights of all kinds of “undesirable” classes, not just the kids of immigrants.
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Ⱦrump and Co. are counting on a lawsuit as soon as this gets signed. A lower court will grant an injunction against the order, and the DOJ will appeal to the Supreme Court as they have done repeatedly over the past year and a half. Considering the ultraconservatives on the court right now, there’s a chance the executive order might be upheld on some flimsy pretext or other. Which makes me wonder- maybe it would be better not to sue over it so it remains an executive order that can be repealed by a future president?
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Overturning constitutional amendments with executive orders is equally a red flag. If successful.
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The one he’s trying to undermine is especially hated by bigots and right-wingers, undergirding as it does a lot of minority rights.
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I doubt it. This would essentially overthrow Marbury v. Madison and turn the SCOTUS into a powerless blob. There’s a lot I don’t trust about the current court, but I trust it to maintain its own legal relevance.
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Well, the United States was a nice experiment while it lasted.
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I’m wondering whether the aim (coupled with sending troops to the border, etc) is to try and define undocumented immigrants as an invading army. Children born to members of an invading army on US soil are not entitled to birthright citizenship, in the same way as children of foreign diplomats aren’t (and pre-1924 some Native Americans weren’t) because even though the parents are on US soil they’re not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
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That sounds so ludicrously evil that I worry that you might give the right ideas they didn’t have before.
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If it was that easy to disregard parts and pieces of the constitution like that, Obama would have signed an executive order effectively putting in place an assault weapons ban a long time ago.
The dude is asking for another big legal fight possibly to distract from his other legal battles. Don’t forget, Donald is a complete and total sociopath.
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There is just no way this can work. Every single person present on US soil, legally or otherwise, and not specifically exempted (foreign diplomats) is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. How otherwise do you claim someone is “here illegally” if he is not subject to US laws?
It’s one of the clearer amendment clauses we have, and it would take another to undo it,. This is Trump fantasizing he’s bought the whole Supreme Court now, and it sure seems like he might catch Kavanaugh on a bender and get the opinion he wants, but I can’t imagine even Gorsuch is willing to just outright shred the Constitution for him.
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Or to try to influence the election?
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And, just like that, he’s back in the news cycle.
Ending birthright citizenship plays well with his base who, if not necessarily card-carrying white nationalists, are sympathetic to many of white nationalism’s ideas. Media coverage of his ‘proposal’ – even if it’s as nonexistent as the 10% middle-class tax cut that he claimed Congress was about to pass – has the effect of amplifying his message to his supporters, distracting his opponents and drowning out everything else.
Meanwhile, anything else that we could be talking about – such as the ballooning deficit, the Republican determination to gut anything that even resembles a social safety net, the mysterious way that the touted ‘tax cuts’ have fattened the super-rich almost exclusively, and Trump’s role in fomenting recent outbursts of murderous insanity – get pushed to one side while we endlessly discuss this latest provocation.
I’d say that Trump’s ability to play the media like a cheap piano was a kind of genius, except that it’s not. He has basically one trick in his repertoire, and he plays it again, and again, and again. And the media fall for it every single goddamn time. Or, perhaps, given that their profits are also driven by rage-clicks, they choose to go along with it.
When the dust finally settles on the Trump years, I think that one of the verdicts is going to be that it took more than just a sociopathic narcissist in high office and a groundswell of white racism to bring us to this; the fourth estate is going to be seen to have let down the nation pretty badly as well.
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If we revoke birthright citizenship - can the next President after he’s impeached revoke Trump’s citizenship?
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If you are lucky, by a 5-4 ruling at the supreme court. Better start a letter-writing campaign to Roberts now.
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And this is my worry. I have heard people argue that since “subject to the laws of the US” exempted Native Americans, it could also exempt “illegal immigrants.”
OTOH I suspect that this is more of a “Look I tried to enact your anti-brown people agenda, but those evil courts prevented me.” Just another way of sucking up to his base and another FU to established norms.
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Anything to keep the conversation on immigration and distract us from the bombs and synagogue shooting.
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Well ladies and gentlemen, this is the end of American democracy.
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I suspect they’re counting on a lawsuit so they can blame the liberals for stopping their plans.
They get it both ways. Fire up the base, no actual change, and an ongoing imagined sleight that they can use to keep their base engaged.
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