re: If the 14th Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship then why ...

People are confusing Wong deferring to precedent (Elk v. Wilkins) with some sort of "gotcha". To my memory, this was not even a focus or argument of the government at oral arguments on this issue. Their "domicile" standard would also reverse Elk v. Wilkins for Indians born off the reservation.

I just looked and "domicile" appears only once in Elk, and it's not a substantive reference.

quote:

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And certainly it must be conceded that, except in cases of persons "naturalized in the United States," which phrase refers only to those who are embraced by the naturalization laws, and not to Indians, the Fourteenth Amendment does not require the citizenship granted by it to be evidenced by the record of any court, or of any department of the government. Such citizenship passes to the person of whatever race who is embraced by its provisions, leaving the fact of citizenship to be determined, when it shall become necessary to do so in the course of legal inquiry, in the same way that questions as to one's nativity, domicile, or residence are determined.

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