Exclusive‑allegiance test for citizenship

The Fourteenth Amendment’s word “jurisdiction” should be read as requiring exclusive allegiance to the United States (not mere physical presence), so children born to persons owing allegiance elsewhere would not automatically acquire U.S. citizenship. This reframing treats jurisdiction as a layered concept—territorial, extra‑territorial, and allegiance‑based—and argues the Amendment’s citizenship guarantee adopts the allegiance layer. — If adopted by courts or lawmakers, this interpretive test would narrow birthright citizenship and reshape immigration and family‑law consequences for births to non‑citizen parents.