The Right to Run for Office

Letters from an American vor 1 Monat

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Letters from an American

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A newsletter about the history behind today's politics.

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August 29, 2026

Republican lawmakers are attempting to restrict the ability of
naturalized and dual citizens to run for office, At least five
Republican members of Congress want to prohibit them from holding
federal judgeships, Cabinet posts, and ambassadorships as well,
Americans have struggled over questions of equality and
immigration for more than a century, Anti-immigrant sentiment on
the East Coast over Irish immigrants and on the West Coast over
Chinese immigrants led to limits to their rights and created a
caste system, Abraham Lincoln understood that giving up the
principle of equality is an excuse for enslaving people and that
we cannot make exceptions to the Declaration of Independence,
Americans added the 14th Amendment to the Constitution to ensure
that these exceptions could not be made, The Constitution's
requirements for officeholders are the only allowable
qualifications, neither states nor the federal government can add
additional qualifications, The idea of discriminating against
naturalized citizens is, in the words of law professor Pamela
Karlan, "ugly, stupid, and unconstitutional."

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