Friday, August 15, 2025

Vlahoplus and Rosin on an 1872 Birthright Citizenship Precedent

John Vlahoplus and Michael L. Rosin have published Birthright Citizenship of Child Born to Enemy Alien Visitors in the Washington University Law Review Online:

This is the story of Mogridge v. United States, in which the United States asserted, and a multinational commission held, that a child born in Pennsylvania to enemy alien visitors was a U.S. citizen even though he also acquired the nationality of his parents at birth and left the United States with them only a few weeks afterward. This compelling 1872 precedent undermines arguments for the narrow scope of birthright citizenship set out in President Trump’s Executive Order 14160, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship."

--Dan Ernst