Originalists: Uphold Constitution by Changing It

I’m starting to think that the new leadership in Congress didn’t think their plan through very well; and by extension, neither did the people who voted for them. Case in point: their much touted orginalist idea of a strict interpretation of the US Constitution includes going back to change the 14th Amendment. It isn’t original enough for them?

There are indications that the new Congressional leadership will concentrate on birthright citizenship this year, as opposed to enforcement laws ala Arizona sb1070. Not that the heat is subsiding over anti-immigrant enforcement laws. At last count there are 19 state-level bills being considered. They all ape Arizona’s law to one extent or another. The assault on birthright citizenship is just putting a match to another burner.

National Review Online pinpoints the two-pronged plan and the person behind it:

Kris Kobach, the recently elected Kansas secretary of state, is a lawyer and professor of law who specializes in immigration issues. The architect of Arizona’s SB-1070, he is the legal mind behind two new proposals to challenge the automatic granting of citizenship to any child born in the United States, regardless of the legal status of his parents. The first proposal is state-level legislation that would not affect the federal citizenship of an illegal immigrant’s child, but would deny him citizenship of that state. The second is a state compact, which has to be adopted by at least two states and approved by Congress to be enacted, that would deny the children of illegal immigrants citizenship at both the state and the federal level.

This, they say, is an attempt to restore the original meaning of the Constitution. But even among their own, conservatives are at odds over this plan. Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, says that its like putting the proverbial cart before the horse. His logic is that they’ve got to secure the border first, or else they’ll end up increasing the number of undocumented persons. And really, from their perspective, what good would that do?

Meanwhile the idea is catching.

Joining Kobach in the effort is Pennsylvania state representative Daryl Metcalfe, who founded State Legislators for Legal Immigration. Metcalfe reports that lawmakers from 32 states have expressed interest in at least one of the initiatives, although he concedes he has “no idea” how many states will ultimately pass the legislation. Kobach estimates that ten or more states will pass at least one of the initiatives.

All of this, if successful, will inevitably be challenged in court. So there you go.