Kamlager-Dove Issues Brutal Takedown Of GOP For Pushing For Abolishment Of Birthright Citizenship

2 days ago

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) spoke about the historical context which the 14th Amendment was created and preserved.

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00:00I'm from Wisconsin. I now recognize the gentlelady from California.

00:03Thank you, Mr. Chair and Ranking Member. I think there's a quick video that I have.

00:16You don't need to be a genius to realize that Trump's not talking about babies that come from Norwegian vajayjays. No.

00:23He wants to wipe out the Constitution so that he can whiten America. That's what he's planning to do here.

00:28All right. I just thought since the South Africans are in the news, I would play that.

00:33I had a question for you, Mr. O'Brien. Is the Equal Protection Clause part of the 14th Amendment, yes or no?

00:41Yes, it is.

00:43Okay, thank you. And Mr. McOtter, is the Due Process Clause part of the 14th Amendment, yes or no?

00:49Yes, although each clause uses a different language.

00:52Okay, thank you. Yes, I do know. But thank you for that.

00:55I ask those questions because I have heard no objection from this body, no quarrel,

01:00no disagreement with the fact that the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause

01:05are embedded in the U.S. Constitution through the 14th Amendment.

01:08In fact, this country's president, that so many revere, has invoked the Due Process Clause on the regular,

01:16as he should, because it is his right.

01:19And he has, in fact, showed the country how due process works when applied without prejudice.

01:25If only it would work for the rest of us like that, but I digress.

01:29The point is those tenants are here to stay with birthright citizenship.

01:35So I want to talk about the times that gave rise to the 14th Amendment. It was 1868.

01:40There was the aftermath of the four-year, divisive, destructive Civil War

01:45that killed roughly three-quarters of a million soldiers, or 2% of the population,

01:50resistance in the form of Reconstruction, a massive tsunami in a soon-to-be U.S. territory

01:56that killed 70 people, and in the aftermath of the 1868 Louisiana Constitution,

02:01which gave black men the right to vote and a public education,

02:05you had Louisiana, the Louisiana Massacre, where black people were murdered trying to vote.

02:11As people would say from my hood in L.A., the white folks went cray-cray.

02:16And in spite of all of that, white congressmen showed up in 1868 to debate the 14th Amendment

02:23because in the midst of the madness and violence of the time, it was that important.

02:28And it passed with birthright citizenship, those three clauses.

02:34And these tenants forever changed this country.

02:37The 14th Amendment is a pillar of American law in a good way, and it has been for 160 years.

02:45Everyone recognizes that it should not be touched, that it is sacrosanct, even Justice Scalia,

02:51and Scalia, whose ideology I do not support.

02:55His reasoning is that the full 14th Amendment, which includes the Due Process Clause

02:59and the Equal Protection Clause, as well as birthright citizenship,

03:03was based on originalism, textualism, and traditionalism,

03:07and that one should consider the political and intellectual climate, beliefs, and prejudices

03:13of the time it was ratified, and the Amendment should be protected,

03:17which is why it is worth revisiting 1868, because the origin story of the Amendment

03:23is as applicable now as it was then.

03:26You had a Democratic president impeached in 1868 and a Republican president impeached in 1921.

03:32You had political violence in 1968 with the Louisiana Massacre

03:36and an insurrection that happened here in 2021, where Capitol Police were speared with American flags.

03:42You had a tsunami in Hawaii in 1868 and a fire again in 2023.

03:48You had an economic turndown in 1868, and you have $15 eggs under Trump right now in 2025.

03:56Same environment, toxic, hostile, destructive, deadly.

04:02And let's be clear, they had immigrants back then too, Irish, Jews, Germans, Italians,

04:09people who couldn't speak English, but they saw through the moment and passed the 14th Amendment.

04:15And it's not like this country has not had moments where people have felt under attack.

04:20We've had Jim Crow, World War II with the Germans, McCarthyism, the Japanese in internment camps,

04:26the Vietnam War, and birthright citizenship has survived all of that.

04:31And now, not because of war, but because somebody can't get a job at Walmart

04:37because of xenophobia, fragile ego, and mediocrity,

04:41we are going to look for culprits instead of protecting the Constitution.

04:45It is the epitome of lazy.

04:48And if they could put the 14th Amendment in the Constitution during those hostile times,

04:52we can keep it in law during ours.

04:55The climate is not different.

04:57It is the patriotism of the Republican Party that is different.

05:01And with that, Mr. Chair, I yield back.

Kamlager-Dove Issues Brutal Takedown Of GOP For Pushing For Abolishment Of Birthright Citizenship

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