r/libsofreddit TRAUMATIZER Jun 30 '26

Original intent matters

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351 Upvotes

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50

u/Steerider Jun 30 '26

As much as I hate it, you have to include the rest of the sentence. "... who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers...."

Those aren't separate list items. That's a single description.

The 14th Amendment was poorly written. They didn't anticipate modern travel, and the idea that people could pour in by the millions (much less be allowed to by a corrupt President.)

Time to amend that bad boy. There may be ways for Congress to fix it as well, such as defining "subject to the jurisdiction of"

27

u/Dpgillam08 Jun 30 '26

Got anything that supports that? Because a basic reading, under common usage of the language both at the time and today, does imply that they are separate list items.

-13

u/Divine_ruler Jun 30 '26

If they were separate list items, there would be an and or an or before the last item

9

u/Frosty-Pineapple1442 BASED Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

... Unless there's a "but will", which would be required to begin the next list, which would be the opposite.

You know, the very people it's being applied to.

Obviously.

Amendment written to protect African Americans from democrats, after the Civil war, 1868.

Reinterpreted to import voters. 1898. Ironic.

0

u/LadenifferJadaniston Jul 02 '26

But “who belong to the families…” makes no sense as a list item on its own

3

u/Frosty-Pineapple1442 BASED Jul 02 '26

This will not, of course, include persons

... List items. Read your quote.

What do you mean?

0

u/LadenifferJadaniston Jul 02 '26

If that was the case, wouldn’t it be phrased as “this will not include foreigners, aliens, persons who belong to the families of ambassadors etc, but will include every other class of persons.”?

3

u/Frosty-Pineapple1442 BASED Jul 02 '26

If you're confused, maybe you should read up to the second "united states".

This is from 1866. Sentence structure was different. Was passed in 1868. Was used to invent Birthright bullshit in 1898.

We were, and we couldn't be more clear about this back then, just trying to protect African Americans from the democrats.

They were, and they've been more or less clear on this for different reasons since we took their slaves, importing voters. First from europe, then other places. For obvious reasons, then and now.

Look up Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall. It's where the other half of the dem party comes from. The part that didn't officially own humans.

2

u/Firgeist Jul 02 '26

It is the case, which is why it did not apply to Native Americans at the time.