Season 2, Episode 17 (Show 69): Citizenship and Citations

April 27, 2022

Professor Amar is cited by the Supreme Court in a decision this week.  Is it a big deal?  It could be, as we discuss.

Professor Amar, it is frequently said (by him), has been cited by the Supreme Court more than anyone else in his generation.  This week, he is once again cited.  We discuss the case, the citation, the underlying theory, and citation in general.  Along the way we find ourselves in company with the Great Dissenter, with his namesake John Marshall, and many more.  This small citation in a concurrence takes us to a legal theory that has enormous implications.

Show Notes:

United States v. Vaello Madero (2022)

United States v. Vaello Madero, 596 U. S. ____ (2022), wherein Professor Amar is cited in the concurrence.

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Citizenship Down - The Colbert Report

The Colbert Report, August 10, 2010, on Anchor Babies and the 14th Amendment.

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Ted Kennedy on Robert Bork

Senator Ted Kennedy’s statement on “Robert Bork’s America”

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Bolling v. Sharpe (1954)

“The Other Desegregation Case,” Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497 (1954).

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Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

The most notorious Jim Crow case, Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), with “The Great Dissenter,” John Marshall Harlan, in glorious dissent.

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Citizenship Clause - Interactive Constitution

Professor Amar’s essay on the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment for the National Constitution Center’s “Interactive Constitution” project.

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Intratextualism - Harvard Law Review

The article cited by Justice Thomas in his concurrence this week, this 1999 Harvard Law Review article has a discussion of the Citizenship Clause and equality, but so much more, and will be the subject of later podcasts as well.

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