Alan Dershowitz Says ‘Both Sides Missed The Point’ On Birthright Citizenship At Supreme Court

Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Wednesday that both sides of the birthright citizenship debate missed the point.

The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in Trump v. Barbara, a case challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order that eliminated birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants. Appearing on “The Record with Greta Van Susteren,” Dershowitz said the debate missed the most important argument.

“This is not a case where the Supreme Court gets the last word. The 14th Amendment ends with the following statement: ‘Congress shall have the power to enforce by appropriate legislation the provisions of this article.’ And so Congress has the power to decide who is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States,” Dershowitz told Greta Van Susteren.

Dershowitz said Congress holds the power to deny citizenship to birth tourists who simply passed through the United States, yet neither side made that case.

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“If Congress were to pass a law saying that people who come for birth tourism or who just passed through the United States are not subject to the jurisdiction of the country, then the 14th Amendment doesn’t grant them citizenship. Now neither side wants that result,” Dershowitz said. “Both sides want extreme results so that neither side argued sensibly for a solemn manic solution,which would divide the baby — literally the tourist baby — in half. If they lived in the United States, if they spent time here, if they were really subject to the laws of the United States, yes, then they’re citizens.”