CITIZENSHIP/ELECTION/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The words of the 14th Amendment are plain, and the scholarly and judicial consensus about what they mean is nearly uniform: Children born in the United States automatically become citizens of the United States. In an interview released Tuesday [10-30-18], President Trump proposed a different reading of the amendment, one he said denies birthright citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants. Mr. Trump said he was preparing to issue an executive order to that end. The statement sounded more like a political stunt than a reasoned legal argument, and its timing, coming a week before the midterm elections, was suspect. Nor was it clear what the executive order would say, or how it could change the meaning of the Constitution. But there was little question that any action by Mr. Trump to try to alter birthright citizenship would be met with immediate legal challenges.”
–Adam Liptak, “Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Proposal Is at Odds With Legal Consensus,” The New York Times online, October 30, 2018