President Trump told Axios’ Jonathan Swan that an executive order is “in the works” that would end birthright citizenship:
In an exclusive interview for "Axios on HBO," Trump said that he has run the idea of ending birthright citizenship by his counsel.
"It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don't," Trump said. https://t.co/Sc9EfGBz0l
— Axios (@axios) October 30, 2018
Partial transcript from the video below:
Trump: “…well you can definitely do it with an act of Congress, now they’re saying I can do it just with an executive order. Now how ridiculous. We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in has a baby and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for eighty-five years with all of those benefits. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous and it has to end.”
Swan: “Have you talked to about that with counsel?”
Trump: “Yeah. I have.”
Swan: “So, where in the process?”
Trump: “It’s in the process. It’ll happen. We go an executive order, that’s what you’re talking, right?”
Swan: “Yes, exactly”
Trump: “That’s very interesting… I didn’t think anyone knew that but me. I thought I was the only one. Jonathan, I’m impressed.
Watch:
Exclusive: Trump plans to sign an executive order terminating birthright citizenship, he said yesterday in an exclusive interview for "Axios on HBO." pic.twitter.com/D2RE4N4OrJ
— Axios (@axios) October 30, 2018
So, who leaked this nuclear bomb?
Background: I had been working on a story for a while, based on a leak from a good source, but it wasn’t ready for prime time. I thought I’d spring the question on POTUS … 2/2 https://t.co/ckg0vs4T9O
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) October 30, 2018
Liberal, shall we say, disagree with the president’s ability to do this:
You can’t alter the Constitution by executive order. You want to repeal the 14th Amendment, you do it the old fashioned way: By having enough racist hacks on the Supreme Court to render the constitutional rights of people of color meaningless. https://t.co/jkXx48pCEy
— Student Loans ? (@AdamSerwer) October 30, 2018
Er, Mr. President, "All persons born or naturalized in the US…are citizens of the US." It's the 14th Amendment. NEVER have we seen a POTUS so willing to trample our laws. Probably a pre-election gimmick, but fortunately we have courts–see you there sir if you dare try this. https://t.co/YrtzwOkSJU
— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) October 30, 2018
The 14th Amendment is 150 years old. Is it possible Kanye said abolish the 13th Amendment and the president thought he meant 14th?
— Evan Pérez (@evanperez) October 30, 2018
Anyway: POTUS absolutely cannot eliminate 14th amendment’s birthright citizenship clause by exec order. Just like he can’t do an executive order barring 18-21 year olds from voting. This is clearly illegal, should be covered as such. It’s a political move too. Don’t miss that
— Todd Schulte (@TheToddSchulte) October 30, 2018
It's going to be interesting watching committed textualists make a hard pivot towards the "living constitution" interpretation to justify something that's so clearly against the original meaning of the 14th amendment https://t.co/1wiw3CFz6e
— David Fickling (@davidfickling) October 30, 2018
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