The Latest Breaking News from Kurt Lash

Birthright Citizenship Re-Examined (from an Originalist Perspective)

Professor Michael Ramsey revisits the original public meaning of the 14th Amendment's citizenship clause.

Reason · Feb 27

Prof. Kurt Lash Responds to Keith Whittington on Birthright Citizenship

Keith posted yesterday "On the Original Meaning of Birthright Citizenship," discussing his new article on the subject; here's the abstract… The post Prof. Kurt Lash Responds to Keith Whittington on Birthright Citizenship appeared first on Reason.com.

Reason · Aug 26, 2025

The Domicile Dead-End

Evan Bernick's third in a series of guest-blogging posts on birthright citizenship.

Reason · Apr 3, 2025

The Use and Misuse of Section Three's "Legislative History": Part II

[Note: This is the sixth in a series of essays responding to objections that have been made to enforcing Section Three of the Constitution. The first five essays can be found here, here, here, here, and here.] Earlier today we began discussing the use and misuse of constitutional legislative history…

Reason · Feb 6, 2024

The Use and Misuse of Section Three's "Legislative History:" Part I

[Note: This is the fifth in a series of essays responding to objections that have been made to enforcing Section Three of the Constitution. The first four essays can be found here, here, here, and here.] The appropriate role of "legislative history" in constitutional interpretation is a subject of ongoing…

Reason · Feb 6, 2024

Section Three and the "First Insurrection" … That Wasn't

[Prof. Kurt Lash (Richmond), who is a leading legal historian of the Fourteenth Amendment, was kind enough to pass along this response to an amicus brief by Profs. Akhil Reed Amar (Yale) and Vikram David Amar (Illinois) in Trump v. Anderson, and I'm delighted to have it published here. As…

Reason · Jan 29, 2024

Efforts to Show that Exempting the President from the Scope of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment isn't Absurd Underscore that it Actually is

Harvard law Prof. Larry Lessig's attempt to prove otherwise misfires.

Reason · Dec 21, 2023

Michael Stern Responds to Kurt Lash on The Legislative History of Section Three

As has been noted here already, earlier this month a Colorado District Court concluded that although Donald Trump engaged in the January 6 insurrection, he was not officer of the United States and so he was not covered by Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. The judge particularly cited a…

Reason · Nov 27, 2023

Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment

Why an insurrectionist can run for and serve as President, but not as an Elector of the President

Reason · Oct 13, 2023

Kurt Lash: "The Meaning and Ambiguity of Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment"

"Section Three does not expressly (1) apply to future rebellions or insurrections, (2) apply to persons elected as President of the United States, (3) apply to persons seeking to qualify as a candidate for the Presidency, or (4) indicate whether the enforcement of Section Three requires the passage of enabling…

Reason · Oct 6, 2023