Terrorists Should Keep Their Citizenship

My latest column for The Week argues against Sen. Lieberman’s proposal to strip Americans who serve international terrorist organizations of their citizenship.

My latest column for The Week argues against Sen. Lieberman’s proposal to strip Americans who serve international terrorist organizations of their citizenship.

It’s a sad day when Glenn Beck (!) offers a more eloquent defense of constitutional rights than the normally statesmanlike senator from Connecticut.

But let’s leave aside the constitutional formalities and just consider: Would Lieberman’s proposal accomplish anything? The idea behind stripping a terrorist of citizenship is to avoid a morass of litigation over which precise rights the terrorist possesses.

Unfortunately, any attempt to strip terrorists of citizenship will itself plunge prosecutors into an even deeper morass of litigation. …

But while Lieberman’s solution is faulty, he identifies a truly serious concern. Why on earth did we allow Faisal Shahzad to become a U.S. citizen in the first place? Before entry – and certainly before naturalization – is the time for scrutiny and exclusion. Afterward is too late.

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