Article I power

Bill Marx's May 13 letter concerning the stripping of citizenship from terrorists couldn't have been further off base ("Stripping Citizenship Is a Slippery Slope"). He questions "where in the Constitution does it give the government the power to decide who can have the citizenship stripped?"

The answer is Article I, Section 8, Clause 4, which allows Congress to create laws regarding naturalization, including citizenship. Congress has done this in Title 8 of the U.S. Code, Section 1481, where it outlines several criteria for stripping citizenship, including the conviction for treason. This new bill would simply add terrorism to the list of reasons.

You can argue that this is not a good bill being presented, but the argument that Congress does not have the right to implement it is erroneous.

BOB McAFEE
Ross