Speech #840136149

I am familiar with the development of the doctrine of the power and the right of the Supreme Court of the United States to encompass within its jurisdiction the responsibility for ruling upon the constitutionality of State statutes which may or may not be in conflict with the Constitution. the power and the responsibility and the right to rule upon Federal statutes which may or may not be in conflict with the Constitution. and finally the power of the Supreme Court to interpret and to apply the language of the Constitution itself. Mr. President. the 14th amendment is a part of the Constitution of the United States. The fact that the 14th amendment has not been applied in some specific instances throughout the past decades does not in any way weaken or vitiate this power of law. That amendment is quite explicit in section 1. It reads: All persons born or naturalized In the United States. and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.