The citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” This language recently has come under attack by those who believe that, by giving birth to "anchor babies" who automatically have American citizenship, illegal immigrants are using the 14th Amendment to gain a legal foothold in the U.S. Putting the 14th Amendment to the Test explores whether the language of the 14th Amendment should be modified, left in its present state, or reinterpreted to deny citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants.
Jeff Greenfield, senior political correspondent for CBS News, moderates this timely program addressing the issue of immigration reform and birthright citizenship with Fellows of the Peter Jennings Project and distinguished guests John C. Eastman, Daryl Metcalfe, Jorge Mursuli, Marjorie Rendell, and Cecillia Wang.
Dr. John C. Eastman is the Donald P. Kennedy Chair in Law at Chapman University School of Law, and also served as the School’s Dean from June 2007 to January 2010, when he stepped down to pursue a bid for California Attorney General. He is the Founding Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute. Previously, Eastman served as the Henry Salvatori Professor of Law & Community Service. Prior to joining the Chapman Law faculty in August 1999, he served as a law clerk with Justice Clarence Thomas at the Supreme Court of the United States and with Judge J. Michael Luttig at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Eastman also practiced with the national law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, specializing in major civil and constitutional litigation at both the trial and appellate levels.
Jeff Greenfield is a veteran reporter of politics, media, and culture, and the senior political correspondent for CBS News. Greenfield previously spent nine years at CNN as senior analyst, where he covered primaries, conventions, presidential debates, and election nights, among other events. He was a political and media analyst for ABC News from 1983 to 1997, appearing on “Nightline” and delivering weekly commentaries for “World News Sunday.” Greenfield’s first stint at CBS was from 1979 to 1983, when he served as media commentator. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Harper's and National Lampoon, and he is the author or co-author of 11 books.
Daryl Metcalfe, recognized by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as the Pennsylvania General Assembly’s “No. 1 Conservative,” and a multiple-time, highest-ranking lawmaker on the Pennsylvania Liberty Index, currently is serving his seventh term in office. Metcalfe serves as the Republican Majority Chairman of the Pennsylvania House State Government Committee. During his tenure, he has been a leader on the issues of taxpayer protection, education reform, ending Pennsylvania’s illegal alien invasion, protection of Second Amendment freedoms, outlawing teacher strikes, and the Right to Work. Other legislative initiatives include proposals to completely eliminate property taxes in the Commonwealth and requiring voter referendum for any and all future local tax increases. Prior to his election, Metcalfe was employed with Dade Behring (formerly DuPont Diagnostics) for 13 years as a field engineer, where he was responsible for managing a biomedical service territory in western Pennsylvania. Metcalfe attended Kansas State University while serving in the United States Army at Fort Riley in Kansas.
Jorge Mursuli emigrated from Cuba to Brooklyn, New York in 1967. Under his leadership, Democracia Ahora has grown to be one of the most effective Hispanic civic engagement and leadership training organizations in the nation. Previously, Mursuli served on the Board of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. He is the former Chair of the Miami-Dade County Community Relations Board Task Force on Police/Community Relations. In 2001, Mursuli joined People for the American Way (PFAW) Foundation as the Florida State Director. In September 2002, PFAW together with SAVE Dade, led the fight – and were victorious – against a repeal of the sexual orientation clause in Miami-Dade’s Human Rights Ordinance. During the 2002 and 2004 elections, he was instrumental in organizing PFAW Foundation’s Election Protection program. Mursuli received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida. Currently, he serves on the National Board of the League of Conservation Voters.
Marjorie O. Rendell was the 43rd First Lady of Pennsylvania, and currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Previously, she served as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and as an attorney with the law firm of Duane, Morris & Heckscher LLP, where she became the firm’s second woman partner. Rendell is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, an inaugural member and Master of the Villanova University School of Law J. Willard O’Brien Inn of Court, an elected member of The American Law Institute, and a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Federal Judges Association, the American Judicature Society, and the National Association of Women Judges.
Cecillia Wang is the Managing Attorney for the California office of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants' Rights Project, which focuses on the intersection of immigration and criminal law and the impact of U.S. national security policies on non-citizens. Wang began her career at the Immigrants’ Rights Project as a fellow in 1997-98 and rejoined the Project in 2004 after working at the federal public defender office for the Southern District of New York. From 2002 to 2004, she was appointed to the Criminal Justice Act indigent defense panel for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Previously, Wang served as a clerk for Judge William Norris of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Harry Blackmun of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Named in honor of the late, award-winning news anchor and friend of the National Constitution Center, the Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution allows professional journalists from print, broadcast, and online media organizations, as well as a select group of collegiate journalists, to examine the constitutional dimension in the news today and acquire a deeper understanding of the Constitution and its important role in the lives of all Americans. Kayce Freed Jennings, wife of Peter Jennings, serves on the board of the project and veteran journalist Todd Brewster, who worked closely with Jennings and co-authored two books with him, is the program director.
The Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution is made possible through the generosity of the Annenberg Foundation.
Bio
Dr. John C. Eastman
Dr. John C. Eastman is the Donald P. Kennedy Chair in Law at Chapman University School of Law, and also served as the School’s Dean from June 2007 to January 2010, when he stepped down to pursue a bid for California Attorney General. He is the Founding Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute. Previously, Eastman served as the Henry Salvatori Professor of Law & Community Service. Prior to joining the Chapman Law faculty in August 1999, he served as a law clerk with Justice Clarence Thomas at the Supreme Court of the United States and with Judge J. Michael Luttig at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Eastman also practiced with the national law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, specializing in major civil and constitutional litigation at both the trial and appellate levels.
Jeff Greenfield
One of America’s most respected political analysts, Jeff Greenfield has spent more than 30 years on network television, including CNN, ABC News, CBS and currently serves as an anchor on PBS’ Need to Know. He is a four-time Emmy Award-winner and columnist for Yahoo! News. Greenfield has served as anchor booth analyst or floor reporter for every national political convention since 1988 and reported on virtually every important domestic political story in recent decades. Greenfield has authored or co-authored 12 books, including his 2011 bestseller, Then Everything Changed: Stunning Alternate Histories of American Politics—JFK, RFK, Carter, Ford, Reagan, in which he looks at American political history "through a fictional looking glass." Other of his books include The People’s Choice, The Real Campaign, and Oh, Waiter! One Order of Crow!, an insider account of the contested 2000 presidential election.
Daryl Metcalfe
Daryl Metcalfe, recognized by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as the Pennsylvania General Assembly’s “No. 1 Conservative,” and a multiple-time, highest-ranking lawmaker on the Pennsylvania Liberty Index, currently is serving his seventh term in office. Metcalfe serves as the Republican Majority Chairman of the Pennsylvania House State Government Committee. During his tenure, he has been a leader on the issues of taxpayer protection, education reform, ending Pennsylvania’s illegal alien invasion, protection of Second Amendment freedoms, outlawing teacher strikes, and the Right to Work. Other legislative initiatives include proposals to completely eliminate property taxes in the Commonwealth and requiring voter referendum for any and all future local tax increases. Prior to his election, Metcalfe was employed with Dade Behring (formerly DuPont Diagnostics) for 13 years as a field engineer, where he was responsible for managing a biomedical service territory in western Pennsylvania. Metcalfe attended Kansas State University while serving in the United States Army at Fort Riley in Kansas.
Jorge Mursuli
Born in the province of Sancti Spiritu, Cuba, Jorge Mursuli immigrated with this family to Brooklyn, New York in 1967. He is President and CEO of Democracia USA, a program that is an affiliated corporation of National Council of La Raza.
Mursuli has grown the program to be one of the most effective Hispanic civic engagement, voter empowerment, and leadership training programs in the nation. The program was previously affiliated with PFAW Foundation, where Mursuli was their Florida State Director.
During the 2002 and 2004 elections, he helped organize PFAW Foundation's Election Protection program. Mursuli also served as Executive Director of SAVE Dade (Safeguarding American Values for Everyone), which successfully secured the passage of an amendment to the Miami-Dade County Human Rights Ordinance to include sexual orientation as a category protected by law from discrimination in employment, financing, public accommodation, and housing.
Mursuli serves on the National Board of the League of Conservation Voters, and is the recipient of several awards for his grassroots organizing and advocacy work.
Hon. Marjorie Rendell
The Honorable Marjorie O. Rendell, Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Cecillia Wang
Cecillia Wang is the Managing Attorney for the California office of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants' Rights Project, which focuses on the intersection of immigration and criminal law and the impact of U.S. national security policies on non-citizens. Wang began her career at the Immigrants’ Rights Project as a fellow in 1997-98 and rejoined the Project in 2004 after working at the federal public defender office for the Southern District of New York. From 2002 to 2004, she was appointed to the Criminal Justice Act indigent defense panel for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Previously, Wang served as a clerk for Judge William Norris of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Harry Blackmun of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Fundamental law of the U.S. federal system of government and a landmark document of the Western world. It is the oldest written national constitution in operation, completed in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention of 55 delegates who met in Philadelphia, ostensibly to amend the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution was ratified in June 1788, but because ratification in many states was contingent on the promised addition of a Bill of Rights, Congress proposed 12 amendments in September 1789; 10 were ratified by the states, and their adoption was certified on Dec. 15, 1791. The framers were especially concerned with limiting the power of the government and securing the liberty of citizens. The Constitution's separation of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government, the checks and balances of each branch against the other, and the explicit guarantees of individual liberty were all designed to strike a balance between authority and liberty. Article I vests all legislative powers in the Congress—the House of Representatives and the Senate. Article II vests executive power in the president. Article III places judicial power in the hands of the courts. Article IV deals, in part, with relations among the states and with the privileges of the citizens, Article V with amendment procedure, and Article VI with public debts and the supremacy of the Constitution. Article VII stipulates that the Constitution would become operational after being ratified by nine states. The 10th Amendment limits the national government's powers to those expressly listed in the Constitution; the states, unless otherwise restricted, possess all the remaining (or “residual”) powers of government. Amendments to the Constitution may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress or by a convention called by Congress on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states. (All subsequent amendments have been initiated by Congress.) Amendments proposed by Congress must be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures or by conventions in as many states. Twenty-seven amendments have been added to the Constitution since 1789. In addition to the Bill of Rights, these include the 13th (1865), abolishing slavery; the 14th (1868), requiring due process and equal protection under the law; the 15th (1870), guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race; the 17th (1913), providing for the direct election of U.S. senators; the 19th (1920), instituting women's suffrage, and the 22nd (1951), limiting the presidency to two terms. See alsocivil liberty; commerce clause; Equal Rights Amendment; establishment clause; freedom of speech; judiciary; states' rights.
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