Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- Citizenship (3)
- John McCain (3)
- Statutory interpretation (3)
- Canal Zone (2)
- Immigration (2)
-
- Legal History (2)
- Natural born citizen (2)
- Naturalization (2)
- Presidential eligibility (2)
- Statutory Interpretation (2)
- The Executive Branch (2)
- Backdrops (1)
- Common law (1)
- Contempt of congress (1)
- Defeasibility (1)
- Defeasible (1)
- Executive power (1)
- Incorporation by reference (1)
- Panama Canal Zone (1)
- Removal (1)
- Sovereign immunity (1)
- Stare decisis (1)
- State borders (1)
- Unwritten law (1)
Articles 1 - 4 of 4
Full-Text Articles in Public Law and Legal Theory
The Uneasy Case For The Affordable Care Act, Stephen E. Sachs
The Uneasy Case For The Affordable Care Act, Stephen E. Sachs
Stephen E. Sachs
The constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act is sometimes said to be an "easy" question, with the Act's opponents relying more on fringe political ideology than mainstream legal arguments. This essay disagrees. While the mandate may win in the end, it won't be easy, and the arguments against it sound in law rather than politics. Written to accompany and respond to Erwin Chemerinsky's essay in the same symposium, this essay argues that each substantive defense of the mandate is subject to doubt. While Congress could have avoided the issue by using its taxing power, it chose not to do so. …
Constitutional Backdrops, Stephen E. Sachs
Constitutional Backdrops, Stephen E. Sachs
Stephen E. Sachs
The Constitution is often said to leave important questions unanswered. These include, for example, the existence of a congressional contempt power or an executive removal power, the role of stare decisis, and the scope of state sovereign immunity. Bereft of clear text, many scholars have sought answers to such questions in Founding-era history. But why should the historical answers be valid today, if they were never codified in the Constitution's text? This Article describes a category of legal rules that weren't adopted in the text, expressly or implicitly, but which nonetheless have continuing legal force under the written Constitution. These …
John Mccain's Citizenship: A Tentative Defense, Stephen E. Sachs
John Mccain's Citizenship: A Tentative Defense, Stephen E. Sachs
Stephen E. Sachs
Sen. John McCain was born a U.S. citizen and is eligible to be president. The most serious challenge to his status, recently posed by Prof. Gabriel Chin, contends that the statute granting citizenship to Americans born abroad did not include the Panama Canal Zone, where McCain was born in 1936. When Congress amended the law in 1937, he concludes, it was too late for McCain to be "natural born." Even assuming, however, that McCain's citizenship depended on this statute - and ignoring his claim to citizenship at common law - Chin's argument may be based on a misreading. When the …
Why John Mccain Was A Citizen At Birth, Stephen E. Sachs
Why John Mccain Was A Citizen At Birth, Stephen E. Sachs
Stephen E. Sachs
Senator John McCain was born a citizen in 1936. Professor Gabriel J. Chin challenges this view in this Symposium, arguing that McCain’s birth in the Panama Canal Zone (while his father was stationed there by the Navy) fell into a loophole in the governing statute. The best historical evidence, however, suggests that this loophole is an illusion and that McCain is a "natural born Citizen" eligible to be president.