Naturalization

Arguing that “the requirement of an established rule of naturalization was understood to foreclose retroactive changes in the terms on which individuals were to be admitted to citizenship.”

Arguing that the Naturalization Clause was understood to codify the international legal principle of plenary authority over immigration in the political branches.

Arguing that “the Framers drew a direct connection between the exclusivity of Congress’s power over this field–which has been recognized time and again–and the uniformity requirement. As Alexander Hamilton wrote in The Federalist No. 32, the power over naturalization must ‘necessarily be exclusive; because if each State had power to prescribe a Distinct Rule there could be no Uniform Rule.’”

Discussing the meaning of “uniform” and “rule” in framing context.