Why Birthright Citizenship Is Not A Constitutional Right

Federalist Radio Hour

Radio America

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.5 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2026

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, Ira Mehlman, media director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), joins Federalist Senior Elections Correspondent Matt Kittle to break down the birthright citizenship arguments before the Supreme Court and outline how the birth tourism industry is exploiting the 14th Amendment.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	And we are back with another edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle's senior
0:23.7	elections correspondent at The Federalist and your experience Sherpa on today's quest for knowledge.
0:30.2	As always, you can email the show at radio at the Federalist.com. Follow us on X at FDRLST. Make sure to subscribe wherever you download your
0:39.8	podcast and, of course, to the premium version of our website as well. Our guest today is
0:45.5	Ira Melman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, aka
0:52.1	Fair. On birthright citizenship, that's what we're going to talk about today, as well as
0:59.5	abating the invasion, how enforcement efforts are going in Trump 2.0.
1:06.1	Ira, thank you so much for joining us in this edition of the Federalist Radio Hour.
1:10.0	Good to be here.
1:11.2	Thank you. I think a good on this edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. Good to be here. Thank you.
1:17.8	I think a good starting point would be the recent oral arguments for the Supreme Court.
1:24.3	I know that you folks, fair, kept a close eye on those oral arguments as it relates to President Donald Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship, that is,
1:29.3	doing away with what I believe to be an absolute abuse of the interpretation of the 14th Amendment.
1:40.2	Others disagree with me on that, obviously. And here's the concern, Ira. At least one can never say
1:48.5	ultimately until the decision comes out. But the sense you got was that the majority of these
1:56.2	justices are fine with the situation as is. What did you think about the oral arguments in that case?
2:03.4	Yeah, I mean, it's always kind of tricky and dangerous to try to read tea leaves,
2:07.7	but they seem to be missing what the key point here is.
2:12.4	The 14th Amendment, the Citizenship Clause says all persons born unnaturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States.
2:22.3	And that clause and subject to the jurisdiction thereof is really what it comes down to. What does it mean to be subject to the jurisdiction of the United States?
2:31.3	Does it simply mean that you're here and you have to obey, you know, the laws like
2:35.0	everybody else or does it mean something deeper?
	...

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