In a February 10 Washington Times op-ed, Center for Equal Opportunity president and general counsel Roger Clegg, a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Reagan and Bush administrations, defended birthright citizenship, writing that "[t]he text of the 14th Amendment strongly indicates that it is unconstitutional to deny citizenship to children born in the United States on the grounds that their parents are illegal immigrants." Clegg further wrote: “The question is whether someone born in the United States to parents who are here illegally is a U.S. citizen. And the text says that the answer is yes, unless that baby is not 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States.”

As Media Matters has noted, right-wing media have repeatedly attacked birthright citizenship, claiming that the 14^th Amendment was not meant to apply to children of immigrants.

From Clegg's op-ed:

The text of the 14th Amendment strongly indicates that it is unconstitutional to deny citizenship to children born in the United States on the grounds that their parents are illegal immigrants.

The relevant sentence reads: “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.”

The question is whether someone born in the United States to parents who are here illegally is a U.S. citizen. And the text says that the answer is yes, unless that baby is not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States.

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If conservatives want to be taken seriously when they insist that Congress follow the text of the Constitution, they have to do so not only when it constrains congressional power in ways they like, such as health care, but also when it constrains congressional power in ways they might not like, such as birthright citizenship.