Free Republic

U.S. Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. wants to end what he calls the nation’s “anchor baby situation” — and he’s willing to amend the U.S. Constitution if that’s what it takes. In a Wednesday debate in Danville, Goode — a vocal foe of illegal immigration — repeatedly denounced the policy that guarantees American citizenship to anyone born in the United States. “The anchor baby situation is a magnet for illegals to come to our country,” Goode said. “I’m opposed to that.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The 2008 Republican platform, in language that is hostile to illegal immigrants, says the makeup of Congress should be determined by counting only those legally residing in the United States in the next census. "The integrity of the 2010 census, proportioning congressional representation among the states, must be preserved," says the platform language, which is a reinterpretation of the Constitution that could affect how congressional seats are apportioned. "The census," it says, "should count every person legally abiding in the United States in an actual enumeration." The 14th Amendment of the Constitution, ratified in 1868, says representatives...

Contrary to popular opinion, current practice, and the conventional wisdom, children of illegal aliens born in the U.S. should not receive automatic citizenship. These children, sometimes called "anchor babies," have been thought to deserve automatic or birthright citizenship in accordance with the Constitution. However, Dr. Edward J. Erler, a political science professor at California State University, San Bernardino and a fellow at the Claremont Institute, makes a persuasive case against giving birthright citizenship to illegal-alien children born in the U.S. This month's issue of Hillsdale College's journal Imprimis discusses his views. It is one of the most valuable publications on...

In the July issue of Imprimis, an outreach publication of Michigan's free-market-oriented Hillsdale College, Edward J. Erler, professor of political science at California State San Bernardino, challenges the prevailing wisdom that the 14th Amendment bestows "birthright citizenship" on the newborn child of any illegal alien who can manage to avoid deportation long enough to give birth -- usually in a taxpayer-funded hospital. The 14th, adopted in 1868, was intended to make formal what the Civil War had accomplished de facto -- the recognition that the former slaves were now citizens of the United States, with the full rights thereof. Thus...

The Constitution is simple, short and easy to read. There is no excuse for any reporter to write about it, without reading it. The latest example is an article about anchor babies in the Orlando Sentinel today (29 September) by Jim Stratton. The article concerns a comment about anchor babies by Fred Thompson, Republican candidate for President. If you haven’t followed the illegal immigration debate, anchor babies are children born on US soil of illegal immigrant parents. The babies get citizenship. Then, the provisions for “reuniting families” kick in, and the baby assists the parents in becoming legal. It is...

Regular Guy Paul linked to an Ann Coulter column suggesting that if we took the vote away from women, we'd never have another Democratic president.  I'm almost tempted to sidetrack this post because I caught a hilarious comment in the comments section that rebutted the notion that fascism is a leftist ideology - it most definitely is - but that's for another day. I'm not even interested in Coulter's comments per se, considering they were mostly tongue-in-cheek, but something that Paul said caught my attention. Generally speaking, I would support repealing all the Constitutional amendments of the 20th century. So...

BLUFFTON, S.C. (AP) — Republican White House hopeful Rudy Giuliani said Friday he wouldn't try to change laws that make citizens of children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants, noting that it's a matter determined by the Constitution. "That's a very delicate balance that's been arrived at, and I wouldn't change that," Giuliani said in response to a question while campaigning at Sun City Hilton Head, a sprawling retirement community down the South Carolina coast from Charleston. In Wednesday night's Republican debate, Giuliani and nomination rival Mitt Romney traded accusations of being soft on illegal immigration, and Giuliani took...

"Ladies' Night" was a hit single for the band Kool and the Gang in the '80s, but now it's become the subject of a lawsuit. New York attorney Roy Den Hollander has filed a class action lawsuit against several Manhattan bars and clubs, alleging that their ladies' night practices are unconstitutional. Hollander charges that when they host ladies' night they are violating the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law. Hollander is seeking to be named class representative for all men charged more money or burdened by stricter time restraints than woman. He seeks nominal damages and an...

From its beginnings as a nation, the United States differed from Europe in its citizenship policies, welcoming all those born on U.S. territory as U.S. citizens. Now Rep. Dan Lungren of California and 89 other Republican members of Congress want to end the tradition of birthright citizenship. Eleven of 19 Republicans in the California congressional delegation have signed on to sponsor a terrible bill (HR 1940) that would move the United States toward becoming a restrictionist nation of descent based on parentage. In practical terms, if this notion passed, no longer could people born in the United States simply show...

A common misconception is that the Constitution through the Fourteenth Amendment confers citizenship upon everyone born in the United States, whether or not they were born to an illegal alien. Actually, the Constitution itself does not provide citizenship to those born of illegal parents; the Supreme Court only said it did in an 1898 decision known as 'U.S. v. Wong Ark Can', and it is politically correct to accept this Supreme Court decision while ignoring others. The problem is that the court majority in the Wong Ark Can case, as is so often today, 'made law' according to their personal...

On his campaign swing through Florida, Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson has hammered away illegal immigration, saying that America must secure its borders to ensure national security.[snip] Friday, he went a step further.Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee, said it might be time to reconsider the country's long-standing practice -- one prescribed by the Constitution -- of granting citizenship to any child born on U.S. soil "That law was created in another time and place for valid reasons," Thompson said during a campaign stop here. "It probably needs to be revisited."

Parents and children of America have a grievance. Government compels us to pay into the public educational system, but will not allow us to choose the schools that best meet the needs of our children. This choice is left to government educrats who decide which schools our children attend and what they will be taught, including indoctrination conforming to their political and religious outlook. Parents who opt out of this system are penalized with the loss of educational funding. Clearly, this violates the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise...

14th Amendment The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution was passed by both houses on 8th June and the 13th June, 1866. The amendment was designed to grant citizenship to and protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves. It did this by prohibiting states from denying or abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, depriving any person of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or denying to any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Most Southern states refused to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment and therefore Radical Republicans such...

As the Senate is mulling the details of a compromise immigration bill hammered together by the odd couple of Sens. Edward Kennedy and Jon Kyl, and as members of Congress hear from their constituents over the Memorial Day recess, it may be worthwhile to put the issue in historical context. For most of our history, the United States had no restrictions on immigration at all. I am told that my Canadian-born grandfather was a "nickel immigrant": He took the five-cent ferry from Windsor, Ontario, north to Detroit roundabout 1896. This situation resulted from America's strong demand for labor, coupled with...

The American Civil Liberties Union again is suing under the twisted rational the fourteenth amendment somehow disables local government from displaying anything remotely religious in nature. The latest victim targeted by the ACLU is the rural Florida county of Dixie, which has a Ten Commandments monument at the steps of its courthouse.The lawsuit says the monument violates the First and 14th Amendments because it is not part of a historical display and because the uniquely Christian message of the Ten Commandments on a government building could intimidate people with different religious beliefs.Well I’d say if anyone finds any community...

Report: 40 percent of county's Medi-Cal births to illegal immigrants By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer NORTH COUNTY ---- A state report quietly released last spring shows illegal immigrants made up the largest single group of those giving birth at taxpayer expense in the state and in San Diego County in 2004. The May report, "Medi-Cal Funded Deliveries," states that of the 14,350 taxpayer-funded births in the county that year, 5,814, or 40.5 percent, were to illegal immigrants. That is an 18 percent increase over the 4,916 Medi-Cal-funded deliveries to illegal immigrants in San Diego County in 2001, as...

Miami ? A South Florida lawsuit that seeks to temporarily block deportations of immigrants with children who are U.S. citizens was given a chance to go forward Friday. The lawsuit argues that U.S.-born children are deprived of their civil rights when authorities send their undocumented parents to their home countries. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates there are 3.1 million children in that situation nationally. Although U.S. District Judge Paul Huck dismissed the original complaint, he gave lawyers until Jan. 16 to fine-tune their case and resubmit it. Initially filed in Miami federal court in October, the case is supported by...

Political Correctness will be our undoing. Secret Santa According to Sher Zieve, “Due to concerns regarding Austria’s growing Muslim population, the country’s officials are said to have banned references to St. Nick—also known as Santa Claus—in its kindergarten schools. The Muslim immigration into Austria is said to be at 400,000 and growing.” [snip] What kind of pansy-ass kids are we talking about here? I don’t know about you, but I’ve never met one kid who was afraid of Santa Claus. What’s up with Austria? [snip] The Immigration Back Stab According to The Washington Times’ Charles Hurt, “Congress will approve an...

Anyone born in the United States is an American citizen, a right with post-Civil War roots and defined in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But a controversial bill filed for the 2007 session of the Texas Legislature, one of a flurry of measures seeking crackdowns on illegal immigration, is challenging this long-held tenet of U.S. citizenship. House Bill 28, filed Monday by Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, would exclude U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants from access to public education and health care, unemployment, public housing, disability and other state benefits. Analysts think it is the first-ever state challenge of...

Last week we were inundated with news stories about the verdict rendered in the case of two Enron executives, Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, who were found guilty on multiple charges, which included various counts of fraud and insider trading. No doubt there are many, particularly the thousands of Enron employees whose pensions and retirement accounts were tied to the performance of Enron stock, whose financial welfare suffered due to the actions of these two executives and the subsequent ruination of the corporation. But there was another story, highlighted on the front page of USA Today, which has far-reaching impact...

1 hour, 18 minutes ago The Washington state Republican Party has adopted a resolution calling for an end to the Constitution's guarantee of automatic citizenship to the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. Delegates supporting that platform said their concerns included the cost to public hospitals and the expense of welfare for the children of indigent or deported illegal immigrants. "I think voters realize immigration is a problem and we are trying to grapple with solutions to the illegal-immigration problem," Diane Tubeless, state GOP chairwoman, said of the resolution adopted Saturday with little debate and few dissenting votes. The 14th Amendment...

Dealing with Anchor BabiesBy Congressman Mac Collins (Ret. R-GA)Each year the United States grants citizenship to a quarter of a million children of illegal aliens. There is a common misconception among the public that such citizenship is a constitutional guarantee. The fact is that the constitutional question of whether the 14th amendment grants citizenship to children of foreigners born on U.S. soil was addressed by the Supreme Court over 100 years ago in the Slaughter House Cases and, again, in 1971 in the case of Rogers v. Belle . All existing case law confirms that the Fourteenth Amendment does not...

A proposal to deny citizenship to babies born to illegal immigrants on U.S. soil ran aground this month in Congress, but it is sure to resurface............. At issue is "birthright citizenship," provided for since the Constitution's 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868. Some conservatives in Congress say the amendment was never intended to grant citizenship automatically to babies of illegal immigrants. ...........a revocation of birthright citizenship in an immigration bill passed by the House in mid-December. GOP House leaders did not let the proposal come to a vote.

Bitter Debate Over 'Birthright Citizenship' By DAVID CRARY AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- A proposal to change long-standing federal policy and deny citizenship to babies born to illegal immigrants on U.S. soil ran aground this month in Congress, but it is sure to resurface - kindling bitter debate even if it fails to become law. At issue is "birthright citizenship" - provided for since the Constitution's 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868. Section 1 of that amendment, drafted with freed slaves in mind, says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction...

Bitter Debate Over 'Bithright Citizenship' By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer 16 minutes ago A proposal to change long-standing federal policy and deny citizenship to babies born to illegal immigrants on U.S. soil ran aground this month in Congress, but it is sure to resurface — kindling bitter debate even if it fails to become law. At issue is "birthright citizenship" — provided for since the Constitution's 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868. Section 1 of that amendment, drafted with freed slaves in mind, says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,...

Ever since the subject of Congress taking up Birthright Citizenship have we seen the power of ignorance at work through the MSM. It is difficult to find any editorial or wire story that correctly gives the reader an honest and accurate historical account of the Fourteenth Amendment in regards to children born to foreign parents within the United States. Most often the media presents a fabled and inaccurate account of just what the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment means. Recent story lines go something like this: "Currently the Constitution says that a person born in this country is an...

Alien Birthright Citizenship: A Fable That Lives Through Ignorance Ever since the subject of Congress taking up Birthright Citizenship have we seen the power of ignorance at work through the MSM. It is difficult to find any editorial or wire story that correctly gives the reader an honest and accurate historical account of the Fourteenth Amendment in regards to children born to foreign parents within the United States. Most often the media presents a fabled and inaccurate account of just what the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment means. Recent story lines go something like this: "Currently the Constitution says...

For a city with a reputation as being a bastion of liberal values, Boston has an equally rich history of censorship. In the latest crackdown, Boston mayor Thomas Menino has called for city Inspectional Services Division officials to seize all t-shirts bearing the message "Stop Snitchin'." "It’s wrong," Menino said. "We are going into every retail store that sells the shirts and remove them." The mayor's patience was apparently pushed beyond its limit when the mother of gang member wore one of the shirts to her sons trial for the death of 10-year-old Trina Persad. It is unknown on what...

Tancredo introduced a bill called Reducing Immigration to a Genuinely Healthy Total (R.I.G.H.T.) Act of 2005. A second bill called the Immigration and Nationality Act would eliminate birthright citizenship for children of people who are not here legally. Another representative has introduced a constitutional amendment to this same end. Some local officials said such laws could have an impact in the Rio Grande Valley and Brownsville, where an overwhelming percentage of the population is Hispanic, and many people have close familial ties to Mexico. It’s easy to cross from one side of the river to the other in the Valley,...

He says he wants to live. But his wife, caregivers and South Carolina state officials are so focused on carrying out a decade-old, out-of-state living will that 79-year-old Jimmy Chambers can't get a word in edgewise. That's the account of 10 of Chambers's children and their spouses who signed sworn affidavits in an attempt to block their mother from removing his life-sustaining ventilator, which would cause his death. It's a case that's reminiscent of the Terri Schiavo controversy which captured the attention of millions around the world, in which a fault line opened up in the middle of a formerly...

After the Civil War there was a series of Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. At the time, it was important for the Federal Government to act and enforce Civil Rights for the freed slaves. The most controversial of these amendments has been the 14th. Written in vague, indistinct prose, Supreme Court Judges have used the 14th Amendment to twist the Constitution into any personal political stance they have seen fit. Why don't we now use the legal powers of Congress, of our elected officials, to rectify the language in this post-Civil War, ambiguous amendment. Let's take this out of the...

The only issue that David Gibbs can ever remember Jesse Jackson and Rush Limbaugh agreeing on was the fact that Terri Schiavo should remain alive. ... Gibbs called removing Schiavo's feeding tube "barbaric and uncivilized." Florida law does not allow the starvation of animals and the constitution does not allow the starvation of convicted murderers, he said. ... Felos said faith-based organizations, religious leaders, priests and rabbis distorted the facts in the Schiavo case. ...

Groups upset about illegal immigration and some Republican lawmakers say that any reform — such as the one proposed by President Bush — must include a provision to end birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants and temporary workers. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who heads a 90-member caucus pushing to tighten immigration laws, has introduced his proposal to deny citizenship to U.S.-born children of temporary immigrant workers. He said the provision was vital because immigrants do not want to leave after their visas expire if their children are U.S. citizens. "The only thing that this kind of change gets...

"House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said yesterday that the House will produce another immigration and border security bill this Congress and will have to pass that bill before turning to a guest-worker program. ...He said the House has received the message that immigration is "an incredibly important issue to the American people." ...Mr. DeLay said more security measures are needed and that the government has to prove it can enforce immigration laws before voters will be willing to accept a guest-worker program. He said the House will act on the issues in that order. "We'll probably have a law-enforcement-type bill,...

The 1973 Supreme Court abortion decision Roe vs. Wade was decided by a 7-2 margin, legalizing abortion throughout pregnancy. One of the two dissenters from that decision was the current Chief Justice, William Rehnquist, who has served on the Supreme Court since 1971, and as Chief Justice since 1986. His dissent from Roe is less than 1500 words, and points out several of the many errors and weaknesses of what is, beyond doubt, the most damaging decision the Court has ever issued. Justice Rehnquist objected both to the conclusions of the majority and to the methods they used to reach...

A University student has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education claiming that a University Office of Multicultural Academic Support policy that reserves early registration into several math and English classes for minority students is an unfair, "racist practice." University senior Melissa Hanks filed a complaint Friday with the DOE's Office for Civil Rights, saying she hopes the department will investigate the classes and that the complaint will prompt University administrators to abolish the enrollment restrictions. "I want to see these classes gone," Hanks said. "I want to see no enrollment based on race." The OMAS administers seven...

Rutherford Institute Attorneys Win Civil Rights Victory for Pennsylvania Pro-Life Activist William Depner PITTSBURGH—Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute won a civil rights victory for pro-life activist William S. Depner, a resident of McKeesport, Penn. After Institute attorneys filed an appeal on Depner’s behalf, a Court of Common Pleas judge acquitted Depner of harassment charges for photographing girls who appeared to be underage as they entered a local Planned Parenthood facility. Depner claims he was concerned that girls under the age of 18 were being treated by Planned Parenthood without parental consent and believed photographs were the best way to prove...

Pinellas Park police Lt. Kevin Riley, standing upper right, prepares to arrest members of the Keys family as they were attempting to bring Terri Schiavo water Wednesday morning, March 23, 2005 outside the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla. The Keys family, of Burnet, Tex., kneeling, from left, Josie, 14, Gabriel, 10, Chris, the children's father, and Cameron 12, were all taken into custody. Galen Keys, upper left, the children's mother looks on, but was not arrested.The mother insists it was the children's idea: "I am proud of them," said the boys' mother Geilen Keys from Texas, who was not...

The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits a state from "depriv[ing] any person of life...without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Due process of law would include a proof beyond a reason doubt standard in the Terri Schiavo case. Or else a state would be depriving a disabled person of "the equal protection of the laws" by effectively ordering their death without as much proof as is required to execute a premeditated murderer! The legally blind Judge George Greer ruled that there was clear and convincing evidence that Terri Schiavo wanted...

In response to the GOP-led congressional action intended to restore Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, those Democrats in opposition have attacked Republican hypocrisy in the case. Why suddenly, they ask, is the party of federalism and hostility to an overweening federal judiciary interfering in a state matter and handing the Schiavo case to a federal judge? If it is disorienting to see Republicans scrambling for federal intervention, at least they are acting on their deepest pro-life convictions — life is to be treasured in whatever form it takes, and preserving it is a paramount value. The starkest inconsistencies are on the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Terri Schiavo case has been catapulted from a drawn-out medical and legal battle into a fast-paced political drama with Congress, the White House and the courts playing leading roles. Republicans see a vote for prolonging the life of the brain-damaged Florida woman as an opportunity to strengthen their support among religious conservatives, a vital constituency group, ahead of next year's congressional elections. For the most part, minority-party Democrats are asserting that congressional involvement in such a heart-wrenching private matter is unwarranted and unwise. But they are treading carefully, not wanting again to get clobbered on the...

Nothing more...

America was not founded on the concept of a "wall of separation between church and state," it was founded upon pluralism. The "wall of separation" phrase does not appear in any of our founding documents; it is taken from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson. To base our laws on the correspondence of Jefferson, rather than the Constitution ratified by representatives of each of the original " united states ," is in direct opposition to our system of representative government. Jefferson was a brilliant man, but he also favored slavery and was fanatical about macaroni and cheese. However, slavery was...

A Cook County judge has dismissed Wilmette resident Hale DeMar's court challenge against the village's handgun ordinance, ruling that he had no legal right to own the handgun he used to wound and drive off a burglar in December. DeMar was cleared of any wrongdoing in the shooting itself, but was cited under Wilmette's 15-year old ordinance banning handgun possession, which can result in a fine and loss of the weapons. Before that case could be heard, DeMar's attorneys filed a counterclaim seeking to have Wilmette's law declared unconstitutional as it was applied to him. They claimed the village's application...

Perhaps some of the constitutional lawyers and experts in the Code of Military Justice could answer a question. It is strongly suspected that Kerry has an "other than honorable" discharge in the Naval service records which he has not released. The discharge may have come as a result of his giving aid or comfort to the enemy. The records are protected by privacy laws originating in the 70's. There are undoubtedly Naval personnel, some perhaps retired, who know about this protected information. Are they not obliged to release the information in order to prevent Kerry's attempting to violate the 14th...

Below is the third section of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or...

I was reading the free PDF of Chapter 8 of "Unfit for Command" offered by Human Events Online, only to be shocked to read that John Kerry was a leader in a November, 1971 vote by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (a group with known communist ties) on whether or not to assassinate pro-war US Senators. Now, at that time in my life, I was just learning how to tie my shoelaces, so forgive me for my historical ignorance of the period. What is so striking though is that this well documented event, and Kerry's participation in it, seems...

I will try to keep this as brief as possible. There has been much speculation about John F. Kerry being "Unfit for Command", but it actually appears that he is constitutionally unqualified for command. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution states that; "No person shall be a Senator ... Representitive ... President ... Vice President, or hold any office, ... who, having previously taken an oath ... as an officer of the United States ... to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurection or rebellion against the same, or given...

In 1971, John Kerry appeared before Congress and testified that among other things, his fellow soldiers had committed war crimes. Before this The Vietnam Veterans Against the War sponsored a public forum called Winter Soldiers, in order to meet and discuss these supposed atrocities in front of members of the Press. Almost all of those claiming to have witness or committed these atrocities were later discovered to be lying, most of whom were never soldiers, and never served in Vietnam. Further, and most important, John Kerry went to France to meet with representatives of the North Vietnamese to denounce the...

In 1971, upon returning from four months service in Vietnam and while still a Naval officer, John Kerry testified openly, publicly, before Congress, that he and everyone else serving in Vietnam had committed atrocities, that they were all war criminals. Kerry quickly became active and influential in the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, organizing and leading anti-war protests. Kerry wrote a book, "The New Soldier," that set out his criticism of America's war against the malignancy of communism. John Kerry went to Paris where he conducted private, illegal, diplomacy with the North Vietnamese, and returned to advocate that America surrender...