60 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
Except that the non-citizen Native Americans were specifically not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States when the 14th Amendment was passed. They had no obligation or expectation to follow US laws or pay taxes of any kind (unless specified in treaties) even within the borders of the US (where they were free to travel). They were treated as belonging to different nations that happened to sit on US land. Even when given US citizenship, they were considered dual citizens.
Comment by wocka-jocka-blocka at 24/01/2025 at 19:58 UTC
7 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Trump and the Heritage Foundation goons who wrote this are using the same "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" arguments to say native Americans have their own governmental structures that fundamentally aren't subject to US laws. Don't know if that's an actual effort to deny US citizenship to native Americans on the whole or just bolster their asinine arguments against birth citizenship ... meaning, "nobody not 'subject to the jurisdiction' is a US citizen, and we're being perfectly consistent about that."