Rov_Scam
12hr ago
If you're going to rely on Schooner and nothing but Schooner you have to keep in mind what the case was actually about, and what the result was. It was a case about whether a vessel flying the flag of a foreign nation could be the subject of litigation in a United States court. Ignore the fact that it was a piece of property and sub in an argument for personal jurisdiction. It was a case about whether certain classes of persons are subject to the jurisdiction of United States courts. The court ruled that there was no jurisdiction in this case, and the case was dismissed.
A strict application of Schooner would mean that US courts have no jurisdiction over illegal aliens. I'm one of the more left-leaning members of this forum, but even I don't think we should be offering them this kind of immunity. Deportation is obviously an option, but for certain offenses, that is more of a consolation prize, and in civil cases, it is no prize at all. As I say in a comment below, when we say that someone is not subject to the laws of the United States, it isn't some fancy term of art invented as a pretext to deny certain people citizenship. At face value, it means they aren't subject to US law in some real sense that has real consequences in areas outside of citizenship.
Rov_Scam
19hr ago
One thing you need to take in consideration is that the jurisdictional element isn't just a gotcha that can be invoked because you don't want to give certain people citizenship. It's a very real and very important legal concept that has implications that go far beyond what the anti-immigration crowd is trying to accomplish. If the Supreme Court issues a ruling that illegal aliens aren't subject to US jurisdiction, then it's only a matter of time before courts start entertaining jurisdictional challenges, and it could take decades to sort out all the particulars. In the meantime, there could be a lot of unintended consequences, many of which could become permanent features of US law.
The ironic thing was that while Minnesota got into the news due to the Somali fraud cases, the immigration surge paralyzed the US Attorney's office and didn't affect the Somalis one bit, as 90% of them are US citizens and almost all of the remainder are here legally. I remember reading some Minnesota Democrats complaining that the fraud wasn't being investigated properly because everything was tied up in immigration.
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