Abstract
Where does U.S. birthright citizenship come from, what exactly does the Citizenship Clause protect, why has jus soli become the floor of the American status system, and can executive action redefine it?
What the paper argues
- 01The Citizenship Clause locates citizenship in birth and jurisdiction, not in parental status.
- 02'Subject to the jurisdiction thereof' has a narrow historical referent that current proposals stretch well past its limits.
- 03Jus soli functions as a stability device: it removes status from administrative discretion at the moment of birth.
- 04An executive attempt to reinterpret it converts a constitutional rule into an agency policy question — which is precisely why courts intervene.
- 05The practical stakes are documentary: passports, Social Security numbers, and the downstream chain that assumes citizenship is settled.
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