I appreciate this column greatly. But: a person in the US on a visa is not a citizen and therefore is not a constituent.
I point this out because I want to be accurate when I call his office. Tell him he's a (whatever) for not caring, but the goal of all these moves is to create fear.
You raise a very good point. I used the term a little carelessly and I'll update the post to make it more precise.
After seeing your comment, I did some digging. Many sources do indeed say that a constituent is a voter. But there's a Supreme Court case from 2016 in which Justice Ginsburg wrote that "representatives serve all residents, not just those eligible or registered to vote." She mentions constituent services, which often include immigration cases.
Of course, we don't live in the world of Supreme Court cases. Regardless of what Ginsburg says, McGuire could easily object that this person isn't a constituent, so if you're writing or calling on their behalf, it's probably best to avoid the word.
"As the Framers of the Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment comprehended, representatives serve all residents, not just those eligible or registered to vote. See supra, at 8–12. Nonvoters have an important stake in many policy debates—children, their parents, even their grandparents, for example, have a stake in a strong public-education system—and in receiving constituent services, such as help navigating public-benefits bureaucracies. By ensuring that each representative is subject to requests and suggestions from the same number of constituents, total-population apportionment promotes equitable and effective representation."
I appreciate this column greatly. But: a person in the US on a visa is not a citizen and therefore is not a constituent.
I point this out because I want to be accurate when I call his office. Tell him he's a (whatever) for not caring, but the goal of all these moves is to create fear.
Thanks so much for writing!
You raise a very good point. I used the term a little carelessly and I'll update the post to make it more precise.
After seeing your comment, I did some digging. Many sources do indeed say that a constituent is a voter. But there's a Supreme Court case from 2016 in which Justice Ginsburg wrote that "representatives serve all residents, not just those eligible or registered to vote." She mentions constituent services, which often include immigration cases.
Of course, we don't live in the world of Supreme Court cases. Regardless of what Ginsburg says, McGuire could easily object that this person isn't a constituent, so if you're writing or calling on their behalf, it's probably best to avoid the word.
For what it's worth, here's the relevant SCOTUS excerpt, and you can see the whole decision at https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/578/14-940/.
"As the Framers of the Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment comprehended, representatives serve all residents, not just those eligible or registered to vote. See supra, at 8–12. Nonvoters have an important stake in many policy debates—children, their parents, even their grandparents, for example, have a stake in a strong public-education system—and in receiving constituent services, such as help navigating public-benefits bureaucracies. By ensuring that each representative is subject to requests and suggestions from the same number of constituents, total-population apportionment promotes equitable and effective representation."