Does the federal congress have the power to declare someone a citizen?

[ihopehefails]

you guys are crazy. this whole citizenship thing is an enumerated power. shocking.

Generally speaking, the majority of posters here at USMB struggle with the concept of *enumerated powers"~~and which powers belong to whom.

Another good example would be the healthcare debate and the associated fine for failing to obtain healthcare coverage.

Levying this fine to individual citizens of the United States is not an enumerated power reserved to the Federal Government, therefore it belongs with the state. This has proven to be a *hugely* difficult concept for our members accept.

that precipitates a commerce clause showdown, actually. hugely difficult.

Not from what I've heard.

 

[antagon]

Generally speaking, the majority of posters here at USMB struggle with the concept of *enumerated powers"~~and which powers belong to whom.

Another good example would be the healthcare debate and the associated fine for failing to obtain healthcare coverage.

Levying this fine to individual citizens of the United States is not an enumerated power reserved to the Federal Government, therefore it belongs with the state. This has proven to be a *hugely* difficult concept for our members accept.

that precipitates a commerce clause showdown, actually. hugely difficult.

Not from what I've heard.

you heard that congress couldnt act on immigration.

 

[ihopehefails]

you guys are crazy....

If the federal government declared that a person can not be declared a citizen even then they declared were born here. That would violate the 14th amendment so that amendment is supreme to any federal law.

however, the government could amend the constitution. believe me, your example is not the direction that the government is looking to act on the issue.

To establish a uniform rule of naturalization...

Only the courts can decide if a person meets the requirments of the 14th amendment. In either case the 14th amendment, which was passed by congress, declares how someone is to obtain citizenship. A federal or state government can't pass a law that is out of bounds of the 14th amendment.

statutes establish immigration law. they are confined by the constitution. the constitution is about what rights are due to americans and the procedures/definitions/responsibilities of the government.

I must have missed that.

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

 

[ihopehefails]

that precipitates a commerce clause showdown, actually. hugely difficult.

Not from what I've heard.

you heard that congress couldnt act on immigration.

I was talking about the commerce clause.

 

[ihopehefails]

There is no power given to the federal government to do this and it seems to me that citizenship is a kind of constitutional no man's land where neither the congress, judciary, or even the state governments can create legislation making someone a citizen simply because it is defined in the 14th amendment. I wonder if congress even has the power to create citizens since the process is declared in the 14th amendment as a person naturalized. This is already defined in the constitution and the courts, by its procedures, determines if a person has been naturalized as stated in the constitution.

you guys are crazy. this whole citizenship thing is an enumerated power. shocking.

Generally speaking, the majority of posters here at USMB struggle with the concept of *enumerated powers"~~and which powers belong to whom.

Another good example would be the healthcare debate and the associated fine for failing to obtain healthcare coverage.

Levying this fine to individual citizens of the United States is not an enumerated power reserved to the Federal Government, therefore it belongs with the state. This has proven to be a *hugely* difficult concept for our members accept.

I agree. Even conservatives struggle with that concept but persistence will pay off.

 

[antagon]

Not from what I've heard.

you heard that congress couldnt act on immigration.

I was talking about the commerce clause.

i was talking about how much what youve heard is worth. congress loves the comm. clause. the h/c bill is definitely seeking shelter behind that, the power to tax and the 16th. there's already legislation like it that passed scrutiny. im no pro, but i doubt theres any hope for a constitutional challenge to the mandate part of the bill. maybe some tiny element of it at best, and one which im not aware of.

thus the 'go for it'.

conservatives should try weighing more on their representatives, than the constitution, just on grounds of what fruit it might bear.