Donald Trump was right when he told Bill O’Reilly that some very smart lawyers believe the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment has been wrongly interpreted.

However, the weight of opinion and precedent is greatly on the other side of the argument. Every conservative attorney general in the country has standing to bring the case Mr. Trump wants brought, and none have (or will) since it is such a likely loser and a political disaster at the same time.

I don’t think anyone will disagree that the current courts will uphold the interpretation that reaches back in practice to the last century. We know that since the earliest immigration laws were passed in the post-Civil War era, the children of violators of those laws were deemed by all authorities to be American citizens. We also know that the children of Tories who fled the country after the revolution and returned were also deemed citizens.

All this to say: Campaign 2016 ought to be fought on other ground, especially the ground that includes building a long, strong, double-sided fence.

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