Lecture Notes: Race, Citizenship, and Immigration Law (Pages 1–2)

Multiracial population and the One-Drop Rule

• USA has an increasing multiracial population; examples cited include:
  • Former President Barack Obama: white mother from Kansas and Black father from Kenya.
  • Vice President Kamala Harris: mother from India and Black father from Jamaica.
• One-Drop Rule in Louisiana history:
  • Louisiana birth certificates labeled anyone with at least 1/32 Black ancestry as “colored.”
  • This threshold is represented as rac{1}{32}.
• Susie Phipps case (Louisiana):
  • Born in Louisiana; adult self-identified as white, appeared white to others, married a white man, had only white friends.
  • In late 1970s, applied for a US passport and discovered her Louisiana birth certificate listed her as “colored.”
  • Court decisions denied her effort to change the birth certificate; US Supreme Court rejected her appeal in 1982.
  • 1983: Louisiana changed state law to allow parents to choose their child’s race on birth certificates at birth.
• Birthright citizenship concept:
  • Jus soli (right of soil): citizenship based on birthplace.
  • Jus sanguinis (right of blood): citizenship based on parents’ nationality.
• Brief note on how citizenship concepts appear in policy and law over time.

Slavery in the original Constitution and early constitutional provisions

• The original US Constitution (1787) mentions slaves in three places:
  • 3/5 Clause: slaves counted as rac{3}{5} of a person for representation in the House of Representatives.
  • Importation ban: Congress could not ban slave importation before 1808; the Constitution allowed a ban by 1808. The attempt to ban occurred in 1808, but illegal smuggling of kidnapped Africans continued.
  • Fugitive Slave Clause: any slave escaping to a non-slave state must be returned.
• Birthright citizenship becomes part of constitutional framework after the Civil War according to the transcript, via Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857):
  • Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri whose owner took him to Minnesota Territory for several years; slavery was illegal in Minnesota Territory under the Missouri Compromise (1820).
  • Scott and his owner returned to Missouri; the owner died shortly after; the widow transferred Scott’s labor to her brother, John Sanford, who then sued for Scott’s freedom.
  • The court clerk misspelled the name as Sandford; Sanford lived mostly as a resident of New York.
  • Supreme Court decision: 7-2 holding that Black Americans, free or enslaved, were not US citizens and therefore could not sue in federal courts; Missouri Compromise (1820) deemed unconstitutional by arguing Congress could not declare slavery illegal in territories because slaves were property.
  • Resulting political backlash contributed to abolitionist movements and the emergence of the Republican Party.
• Contextual notes:
  • Sanford (Sandford) death and consequences for Scott’s freedom story occurred around 1857–1858.

Civil War Amendments and birthright citizenship

• 13th Amendment (ratified 13^{ ext{th}} ) abolishes slavery in the United States.
• 14th Amendment (ratified 14^{ ext{th}} ) states that anyone born in the United States or naturalized is a US citizen.
• These amendments define citizenship and civil rights in the post-Civil War era (in the transcript’s framing).
• Important caveat from the transcript’s framing: the link between Dred Scott and birthright citizenship is presented in the material as having birthright citizenship become part of the Constitution after the Civil War due to Dred Scott, though standard historical accounts place birthright citizenship squarely with the 14th Amendment (1868).

Immigration policy in the late 19th century: Chinese Exclusion Act and related cases

• 1882: First broad, explicit federal immigration restriction in US history — the Chinese Exclusion Act.
  • Prohibited immigration of Chinese citizens; targeted a specific nationality/ethnic group due to racism and anti-Chinese sentiment in the western United States.
  • The Act also prevented Chinese people who had already immigrated from becoming US citizens.
• Wong Kim Ark (case history):
  • Wong Kim Ark was born in San Francisco in 慶1873 to Chinese immigrant parents; his parents later returned to China.
  • In 1895, Ark returned to San Francisco after a visit to family in China; US officials refused his re-entry and imprisoned him for several months on ships.
  • The case reached the US Supreme Court.
  • US v. Wong Kim Ark (1898): the Supreme Court ruled 6{-}2 that Ark was born in the United States, was subject to US jurisdiction, was a US citizen, and had the constitutional right to re-enter the United States.
  • The Court stated that only people born in the United States who are not subject to US jurisdiction are children of foreign diplomats who are not US citizens.
  • This precedent has been cited as upholding birthright citizenship for generations and, as stated in the transcript, remained in effect with respect to federal courts and executive branch officials up to the period described (noting the transcript’s inclusion of the phrase “until Trump 2025”).

Key terms and connections

• Jus soli vs jus sanguinis frameworks underpin birthright citizenship debates and policy shifts.
• The 3/5 Clause illustrates the way enslaved people were counted for political representation in early America.
• The 1808 importation ban demonstrates the tension between economic/political realities and moral questions around slavery.
• The Fugitive Slave Clause helped enforce the institution of slavery across state lines.
• The 13th and 14th Amendments collectively redefined citizenship and protected rights after emancipation, though enforcement varied by era.
• Immigration policy shifts in the late 19th century reflect era-specific racial attitudes and fears, shaping who could become a citizen and who could immigrate.

Key figures and cases (timeline references)

• Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857): Supreme Court decision denying citizenship to Black Americans and ruling that Congress could not ban slavery in territories via the Missouri Compromise reasoning about slavery as property.
• Wong Kim Ark (1898): Supreme Court decision affirming birthright citizenship for those born in the United States, including children of immigrants, under the law as interpreted at the time.
• Susie Phipps case (late 1970s–1982): state-level birth certificate race designation dispute; prompted later Louisiana policy change (1983) to allow parental choice of race on birth certificates.
• Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): first major federal immigration restriction; set a precedent for racialized immigration policy.

Ethical, philosophical, and practical implications (summary)

• The tension between race as a legal construct and individual identity is evident in birth certificate practices and the One-Drop Rule.
• Legal definitions of citizenship have direct consequences for people’s rights, social status, and access to political processes.
• The interplay of federal and state laws—birth certificates, citizenship, immigration—reflects ongoing debates about who counts as a member of the political community and on what basis.
• The transcript notes a long-standing claim about precedent holding steady through presidential administrations up to 2025; practitioners and historians would compare this against evolving interpretations and reforms in different eras.