Quote:
Originally Posted by wdmso
because Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, which states: “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States... according to their respective Numbers... . The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years”.[a][1] Section 2 of the 14th Amendment states: “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State...
you cant say your an originalist then add your own inteterpation on sections you disagree the world citizen or aliens doesn't appear
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You didn't finish the rest of section 2 of the 14th Amendment. It included this tidbit. "But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of the State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age,
and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State."
Clearly, the apportionment was based on citizenship and the right to vote. If you did not have the right to vote, or were denied that right, then your portion of the number counted would be reduced from the total count in order to arrive at a correct number for representation. Since aliens are denied the right to vote as outlined in the Amendment, then the number used for representation shall be reduced by the amount of the aliens counted in the census.
And the 14th Amendment was written before women were granted the right to vote and the voting age was reduce to 18. So the number would include those who now have the right to vote.
And the original language in the Constitution, before the 14th Amendment superseded it, stated the number for representation was a count of the free persons in the state and three fifth's of all other persons. You are not a free person if you do not have the right to vote, and we don't do the three fifths stuff anymore.