Rotundo on Birthright Citizenship

Law professor Ronald Rotunda offers an especially clear argument in favor of birthright citizenship in his Chicago Tribune op-ed from September 16, 2010 (“Birthright Citizenship Benefits the Country”).  In this short piece, Rotunda argues that allowing practically anyone born in the U.S. to achieve instant citizenship (“birthright citizenship”) is “one of our strengths, not a weakness.”  He rejects recent calls for revising the current understanding of Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment either by statute or amendment, using examples from history and personal experience and by claiming that the logic of birthright citizenship provides an “incentive” for good behavior.  Not everyone will agree with Rotunda, but he spells out the pro-birthright position with clarity.