Kamala Harris citizenship conspiracy theories

Before and after California Senator Kamala Harris was announced as presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden's running mate in the 2020 United States presidential election, she became the subject of unsubstantiated claims and conspiracy theories regarding her eligibility to serve as president or vice president.[1][2][3]

This article is part of a series about
Kamala Harris
District Attorney of San Francisco
Attorney General of California
U.S. Senator from California
2020 vice presidential campaign

Background

Harris was born at the Oakland Medical Center in Oakland, California, to an Indian mother and Jamaican father.[4][5] Harris was raised in Berkeley, California, until relocating to Montreal, Canada at the age of 12 after her mother took a research position at the Jewish General Hospital. After graduating from high school in Montreal, Harris returned to the United States to attend Howard University and eventually, the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.[6][7]

False claims

The claim that Harris is not a natural-born citizen was made by far-right internet troll and conspiracy theorist Jacob Wohl on January 22, 2019, a day after she announced her presidential campaign. Later that day, his tweet was labeled false by PolitiFact.[8]

Following her selection as Joe Biden's running mate on August 11, 2020, John C. Eastman, an attorney and professor of law at the Chapman University School of Law, wrote an opinion piece published in Newsweek titled "Some Questions for Kamala Harris About Eligibility". In the piece, Eastman disputed the current common interpretation of birthright citizenship under the United States v. Wong Kim Ark decision of the Supreme Court of 1898 as encompassing virtually everyone born in the U.S. He said that "under the 14th Amendment as originally understood", if Harris's parents were not citizens or permanent residents of the United States at the time of her birth, she would not be considered a citizen of the United States, and thus would be ineligible to serve as the Vice President.[9] He noted that in the Wong Kim Ark case, the parents were permanent residents of the United States, and he said the Supreme Court had not ruled directly on whether children of foreign persons who are only temporary visitors (e.g., as student visa holders) also have birthright citizenship.[9] Eastman provided examples of children of temporary workers who were born in the 1920s, 1950s and 1960s who had been forced to go to the country of their parents rather than being treated as citizens of the United States.[9] In response to backlash to the article, Newsweek added an editor's note and published an opposing argument, authored by Eugene Volokh, a legal scholar at the UCLA School of Law.[10]

Numerous fact-check articles evaluated Eastman's claim as false, as Harris was born in California and the legal consensus is that the Wong Kim Ark ruling, when read as a whole, means that the temporary or permanent residency status of the parents is irrelevant to whether children born in the United States are considered natural-born U.S. citizens as defined by the Citizenship Clause of the U.S. Constitution.[11][12] According to the Citizenship Clause, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." Volokh pointed out that Blackstone's Commentaries, the standard reference on law in the colonial era, describes natural-born as follows: "The children of aliens, born here in England, are, generally speaking, natural-born subjects, and entitled to all the privileges of such."[13]

On August 14, 2020, Newsweek replaced the original editor's note with a formal apology, writing "This op-ed is being used by some as a tool to perpetuate racism and xenophobia. We apologize. We entirely failed to anticipate the ways in which the essay would be interpreted, distorted and weaponized. The op-ed was never intended to spark or to take part in the racist lie of Birtherism, the conspiracy theory aimed at delegitimizing Barack Obama, but we should have recognized the potential, even probability, that that could happen."[14][9]

President Donald Trump said, "I heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements. I have no idea if that's right. I would have thought, I would have assumed, that the Democrats would have checked that out before she gets chosen to run for vice president."[15][16][17] Jenna Ellis, Senior Legal Advisor to the Trump 2020 Campaign, later reiterated the idea, saying, “it’s an open question and one I think Harris should answer so the American people know for sure she is eligible."[18][19] CNN's Maeve Rolston called it an attempt to stir controversy.[20] Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe said he "can't believe people are making this idiotic comment" and "there is no question about her eligibility to run."[21] NPR's Tamara Keith also pointed out that Trump's mother immigrated to the United States.[22]

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gollark: I'll run your sandbox and see about breaking it.

See also

References
  1. "Trump stokes Kamala Harris 'birther' theory". BBC News. August 14, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  2. Behrmann, Savannah. "'Unsurprising, but no less abhorrent': Reaction to Trump's comments about Sen. Harris' eligibility to be VP". USA Today. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  3. Brewster, Jack. "Newsweek Stands By Op-Ed Questioning Kamala Harris' Eligibility As Vice President". Forbes. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  4. Hwang, Kellie (August 13, 2020). "10 things to know about Kamala Harris and her Bay Area background". SFChronicle.com. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  5. Martin, Brittany (August 12, 2020). "Kamala Critics Are Going Back to the Birther Playbook". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  6. "U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris's classmates from her Canadian high school cheer her potential run for president". thestar.com. December 29, 2018. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  7. Whiting, Sam (May 14, 2009). "Kamala Harris grew up idolizing lawyers". SFGate. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  8. "Yes, Kamala Harris is eligible to run for president". Politifact. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  9. Eastman, John C. (August 12, 2020). "Some questions for Kamala Harris about eligibility | Opinion". Newsweek. Retrieved August 14, 2020. Were Harris' parents lawful permanent residents at the time of her birth? ... [If not], then derivatively from her parents, Harris was not subject to the complete jurisdiction of the United States at birth, but instead owed her allegiance to a foreign power or powers—Jamaica, in the case of her father, and India, in the case of her mother—and was therefore not entitled to birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment as originally understood.
  10. Volokh, Eugene (August 13, 2020). "Yes, Kamala Harris is eligible to be vice president | Opinion". Newsweek. Retrieved August 14, 2020. The same is true for people born in the U.S. whose parents were foreign citizens. They were 'natural-born subjects' under English law, and thus 'natural-born citizens' to the Framers. Kamala Harris easily fits within that category.
  11. "Kamala Harris is eligible to serve as president". AP NEWS. August 7, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  12. Thenappan, Bala (August 11, 2020). "Kamala Harris Is Eligible to Serve as President". FactCheck.org. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  13. Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  14. "Newsweek apologizes for op-ed that questioned Kamala Harris' citizenship". The Guardian. August 15, 2020. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  15. "Trump And His Campaign Amplify 'Birther' Conspiracy Against Kamala Harris". NPR.org. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  16. Millhiser, Ian (August 13, 2020). "The Trump campaign attack on Kamala Harris's citizenship is right out of the birther playbook". Vox. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  17. Astor, Maggie (August 14, 2020). "Biden Urges Mandatory Masks, and Trump Pushes Birtherism". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  18. Weill, Kelly (August 13, 2020). "Kamala Harris Birtherism Is Happening. Already. Seriously". The Daily Beast. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  19. "Trump weighs in after campaign adviser floats false birther theory about Harris' eligibility to be vice president". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  20. Reston, Maeve. "Analysis: Trump's birther lie about Kamala Harris magnifies racist themes of his campaign". CNN. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  21. Seitz, Amanda (August 13, 2020). "Kamala Harris is eligible to serve as president". AP News.
  22. Trump's Racist 'Birther' Attacks On Harris Are A Return To Familiar Territory
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