Over 140 years ago, in response to the Dred Scott decision denying citizenship
to former slaves and their descendants, the Fourteenth Amendment
of the U.S. Constitution was enacted to guarantee the right to citizenship
for all persons born within the United States and subject to its jurisdiction.1
As was reported in September of 2010: “For more than a century, the rules
governing U.S. citizenship have included a straightforward test: With rare
exception, a person born within the country’s borders is an American citizen.”
2 However, what had been a “simmering academic debate” about that
straightforward test has moved into the political arena, as many Members of
Congress and state lawmakers plan to challenge whether children of undocumented
immigrants should continue to be granted birthright
citizenship.