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Old Jun 7, 2007, 01:03 am   #162 (permalink) (top)
rmnunez
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Location: Mexico City
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Quote:
What do we mean by “subject to the jurisdiction of the United States?” Not owing allegiance to anybody else. That is what it means………
I don't think being subject to the jurisdiction of the US means not being under allegiance to another government. More than just citizens are subject to the jurisdiction of the US. But even if Mr. Trumbull thought this was a fancy way to say "citizens", it is not true that US citizens cannot owe allegiance to another government. The US recognizes dual nationals, and that dual or multiple nationality may arise before or after acquiring US citizenship.

Citizenship is ultimately about legal status and this is a condition acquired or changed through specific conduct, circumstances and the operation of law. For example, a child born of parents from a country recognizing citizenship by parentage regardless of location, would automatically qualify as a citizen thereof even if he subsequently or simultaneously had acqquired the citizenship of the foreign place where he was born. Citizenship may be renounced, and the US gives its ex-citizens a particularly hard time over this, they always figure its about tax evasion. Citizenship can be changed and we see this all the time with ball players and other sports figures, who marry, document ancestry or establish residence to meet specific requirements.

There is a more nativistic perspective on citizenship, but it rings hollow in a nation populated by immigrants. In places like Kosovo, where communities trace their shared roots in a specific locale for centuries into the past, natives can justifiably repudiate citizenship by acquisition.


Et semel emissum volat irrevocabile verbum.
Raúl M. Núñez Sheriff
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