Jonathan Turley Says It’s ‘Insane’ US Is One Of Few Countries With Birthright Citizenship

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Thursday that it is “insane” for the U.S. to continue allowing birthright citizenship.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday regarding President Donald Trump’s executive order that ended birthright citizenship for children born to illegal aliens. Turley said on “Fox & Friends” that the current issues with birthright citizenship pose a major threat to the country.

“The fact that we are one of the few countries that continues to embrace birthright citizenshipis perfectly insane, and it is a great danger to this government and to this republic,” Turley said. ” So the question for these justices is not necessarily if they agree with birthright citizenship. I expectthe majority does not.” 

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Turley said that the justices all appeared to be acting like originalists, meaning they interpreted the Constitution based on its original meaning at the time of adoption. The citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 primarily to grant freed slaves and their children citizenship.

“What was really astonishing yesterdayis it appeared that we might have nine originalists on the court because the liberal justices startedto channel Scalia and to say, ‘oh, you know, we’ve got to stick with the original intent here.’ These are justices, when they look at other rights like the Second Amendment,treat that language as barely a speed bump,” Turley continued. “And they say, well, we have to look at this living constitution and the problems we’re facing today. Well, the problems we’re facing todayon birthright citizenship are existential in my view.”