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The constitution has nothing to do with citizens or non citizens. It's all about the instructions of how a government works, and what limits the government has.
by iso1210 6y ago
The constitution has nothing to do with citizens or non citizens. It's all about the instructions of how a government works, and what limits the government has.
- johnchristopher 6y agoI don't know what to make of that statement. The constitution has plenty of articles dealing with citizen's rights. What am I missing ?
- iso1210 6y agoThere's stuff about voting specifics I think, what specifically are you thinking of?
- johnchristopher 6y agoArticle 4, section 2 `The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.` but that is not what's important: 1. Why do you say the constitution has nothing to do with citizens or non-citizens when some articles are about them and their rights ? 2. Why do you disagree that the preamble establishes that the document is from and about the people of the united states (and doesn't apply to non-US people/citizens) ?
- eropple 6y agoIt is by no means settled that "the people of the United States" is explicitly and specifically citizenry and not aliens currently in the country for clauses not so specifying "citizens".
- johnchristopher 6y agoAh, I understand now. Thanks. A quick Google search returns accounts of many debates about it (I should have mentioned I am not a US citizen, nor am I living in the US. I usually do, my bad).
- eropple 6y agoNo problem. Plenty of Americans don't know this, and there's a sizable proportion that wants you to think it's so settled.
- johnchristopher 6y agoThanks.
- iso1210 6y agoBecuase much of the document is there to limit the powers of the government. It doesn't grant rights to people, it acknowleges that people have those rights whether the constitution exists or not, and then proceeds to grant rights to the government The preamble is who authored the constitution Article 1 is all about how congress works Article 2 about the president Aritcle 3 about the courts Article 4 about the states Article 5 about the constitution Article 6 about which laws are important The Bill of rights further limits the power of government Nothing specifically is about the people. The clause you state limits the powers of the state to take rights away from people. The Constitution does not grant rights to people - because people (all people, globally) have all the rights by default. It does grant rights to government to do certain things, and it specifically limits the power of government to take away rights from people.
- oh_sigh 6y agoIt has something to do with citizens. For example firearm ownership and voting are restricted to citizens, not just people-who-happen-to-be-here.
- iso1210 6y ago> It has something to do with citizens. For example firearm ownership and voting are restricted to citizens, not just people-who-happen-to-be-here. All the constitution has to say on firearm ownership is > A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. No mention of citizens. The constitution does mention citizens 1) Limiting people from congress/senate/president unless they have been citizens for various lengths of time 2) The supreme court applies 3) States can't discriminate between people from one state or another