Citing the infamous 1857 Dred Scott decision, a group of Republicans charged that Kamala Harris is not a “natural born citizen” and therefore not eligible to hold the office of the President.[1],[2] Under Dred Scott she’s only 3/5ths a person.
We now see a new virulent stream of birther attacks going after Vice President Harris.[3] It harkens back to Donald Trump’s birther movement with false claims that Barrack Obama was not an American citizen.
Although born in the U.S., the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, aka the NFRA, claims that Vice-President Harris is disqualified from running for or holding the office as President since her parents were not American Citizens at the time of her birth.[4],[5]
The NFRA contends that the Dred Scott decision, which stripped citizenship from thousands of free slaves, disqualifies the Vice-President.[6],[7]
Their argument is that since neither of her parents were citizens at the time of her birth and also that her father was black, Harris is not a natural born citizen.[8] In 1857 Dred Scott was 3/5ths a person. In 2024 so is Harris.
But NFRA Republicans conveniently forget the 14th Amendment and the 1898 Supreme Court Decision that held that a person born in the U.S. are U.S. citizens.[9] The Court cited the 14th amendment which states “all persons born…in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State where they reside.”[10]
Legal scholars across the political spectrum have repudiated NFRA’s dubious and irresponsible claims. Washington University Law Professor Stephen H. Legomsky said rather succinctly that “there is not a shred of doubt as to Kamala Harris’s legal eligibility to be either the vice president or the president.”[11]
It would be bad enough if this was coming from some no name, backwater fringe group. But it’s not.
Sitting Senators Rand Paul and Tom Coburn and current House Members Jim Jordon, Duncan Hunter and Dana Rohrabacher are leaders in the NFRA and outspoken proponents of this false claim.[12]
We’ve heard this type of nonsense before because racism prevails in the Republican Party. We’ll certainly hear it or something like it again.
The question is do we really want to go back to 1857? The answer is a resounding no. We won’t go back!
[4] THE PRINCIPLES, PLATFORM, AND POLICIES OF THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF REPUBLICAN ASSEMBLIES, p.37
[5]https://www.instagram.com/p/CyMDYNWOlXb/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=a299e491-8950-4ced-9883-f8482b9d91e5
[8] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/01/us/politics/trump-harris-race.html?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
[10] https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/14th-amendment#:~:text=No%20State%20shall%20make%20or,equal%20protection%20of%20the%20laws.
[11] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/08/13/trump-falsely-claims-harris-might-not-be-us-citizen/
[12] https://www.nationalrepublicanassemblies.com/praise-for-the-nfra?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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