President Trump says he is considering “taking away” the U.S. citizenship of a longtime rival, actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a decades-old Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits such an action by the government.
“Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship,” Mr. Trump wrote in a social media post on Saturday. He added that O’Donnell, who moved to Ireland in January, should stay in Ireland “if they want her.”
The two have criticized each other publicly for years, an often bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr. Trump’s involvement in politics. In recent days, O’Donnell on social media denounced Mr. Trump and recent moves by his administration, including the signing of a massive GOP-backed tax breaks and spending cuts plan.
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Responding to Mr. Trump Saturday, O’Donnell wrote on social media that she had upset the president and to “add me to the list of people who oppose him at every turn.”
O’Donnell wrote that Mr. Trump “has always hated the fact that i see him for who he is – a criminal con man sexual abusing liar out to harm our nation to serve himself – this is why i moved to ireland.”
O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Mr. Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris to win his second term. She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage.
It’s just the latest threat by Mr. Trump to revoke the citizenship of people with whom he has publicly disagreed, most recently his former adviser and one-time ally, Elon Musk.
But O’Donnell’s situation is notably different from Musk, who was born in South Africa. O’Donnell was born in the U.S. and has a constitutional right to U.S. citizenship. The U.S. State Department notes on its website that U.S. citizens by birth or naturalization may relinquish U.S. nationality by taking certain steps – but only if the act is performed voluntary and with the intention of relinquishing U.S. citizenship.
Since taking office again in January, Mr. Trump has sought to limit paths to citizenship and access to green cards. On Thursday, a federal judge issued a nationwide block against Mr. Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship.
Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, noted the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born U.S. citizen,” Frost said in an email Saturday. “In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
