‘Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!’ Dershowitz Unloads on Birthright Citizenship Ruling, Still Believes It Could End

Alan Dershowitz called birthright citizenship “stupid” in response to the Supreme Court upholding the 14th Amendment with Tuesday’s ruling.

The court voted 5-4 to dismiss President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship. Republicans have argued that illegal immigrants have abused the system by having children in the U.S. — thus making the children American citizens — before returning to their home countries shortly after.

Reacting to the ruling on The Megyn Kelly Show, Dershowitz said:

Let’s start with birthright citizenship. It’s the dumbest idea ever conceived of anybody. No smart person would ever put birthright citizenship in a constitution. Almost no other country in the world has it. All the examples that you’ve given, and the others have given, about people just being born in the country and then leaving, of course you’re right! Birthright citizenship is stupid, stupid, stupid! Also, it was never intended to cover people from China who come here, give birth, and then go back and have no allegiance to the United States.

Moments later, Dershowitz explained why he was still holding out “hope” that the Trump administration could do something to restrict birthright citizenship.

He continued:

I would hope that the Constitution would be amended to make sense, but unlikely. But I have more hope, Megyn, than you do in Justice Kavanaugh’s dictum because I think it’s dictum on sides. I do think that if Congress were to have hearings, were to bring people who would testify about people from China coming over here and giving birth and then leaving– and that they would then pass a statute saying people like that are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and therefore, although they qualify if they are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, that’s a legislative matter; and legislatively, we now rule under Article 1 of the Constitution that people who have no allegiance to the country other than the accident of birth are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. So I still have hope that that could be done, and I have absolute desire to see Congress try to do that. I’d be happy to testify. I’d be happy to help them on this.

Watch the full clip above.

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