Andrew Napolitano, Fox News’ senior judicial analyst, pushed back against President Trump’s promise to end birthright citizenship by executive order.
“The Congress can write legislation that puts sections of the Constitution into our law and tells bureaucrats how to enforce sections of the Constitution, but Congress can’t change the Constitution,” Napolitano told “Fox & Friends.”
Napolitano, who served as a New Jersey Superior Court judge from 1987 to 1995, went on to say that “if the president wants legislation that says for example, ‘the Congress declares that birthright citizenship no longer exists,’ that legislation would be just as unconstitutional as a presidential executive order declaring that birthright citizenship doesn’t exist.”
“Why do I say that?” Napolitano asked. “Because the plain meaning of the 14th Amendment says all person born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States.”
“Look, the president can’t change the meaning of the Constitution with the stroke of a pen,” Napolitano added. “If he could do that, then Barack Obama could have gotten rid of the Second Amendment, which he hated.”
Napolitano also said that Trump is likely aware he can’t eliminate birthright citizenship by executive order and is using the wedge issue to fire up his base.
“He thinks this debate will help Republicans in the five days remaining before the midterms,” Napolitano said. “I don’t think he seriously thinks he can change the Constitution with an executive order.”
On Tuesday, Trump told Axios’ Jonathan Swan that he was considering signing an executive order to end birthright citizenship.
“It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don’t,” Trump said, adding that the U.S. is the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States.”
About three dozen countries around the world have birthright citizenship, according to the CIA World Factbook.
Watch the “Fox & Friends” segment below.
“The President can’t change the plain meaning of the Constitution with the stroke of a pen.” –@Judgenap weighs in on debate over birthright citizenship pic.twitter.com/aN2xiwlJaE
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) November 1, 2018