The Monitor

11/20/05

A Republican-led effort in the U.S. House of Representatives seeks to change a constitutional amendment that grants American citizenship to any child born on the nation's soil. ... The 14th Amendment gives citizenship to anybody born within the United States. To change this or any other amendment, there has to be a proposal in Congress or a constitutional convention from two-thirds of the nation's state legislatures. Thirty-eight of 50 states must approve any changes to the constitution. ... Many civil rights organizations say this is just another reactionary effort that eats away at this country's founding principles. ... Rasmussen Reports, a nonpartisan polling firm based in Ocean Grove, N.J., released a survey Nov. 7 saying 49 percent of 1,500 adults polled in the United States said they supported ending birthright citizenship. Forty-one percent of them wanted the practice to remain in tact...

http://tinyurl.com/9u7k3


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp