Mace proposes amendment banning naturalized citizens from serving in Congress, Fed. Judiciary or holding Senate-confirmed positions

South Carolina GOP Representative Nancy Mace introduced a joint resolution on Wednesday proposing a constitutional amendment that would explicitly bar naturalized citizens from serving in Congress, the federal judiciary, or holding any Senate-confirmed positions.

The proposed legislation seeks to extend the “natural-born citizen” constraint — which currently applies only to the presidency and vice presidency under Article II of the U.S. Constitution — to all members of the House of Representatives, the Senate, federal judges at all levels, and prominent appointed officers such as Cabinet members and ambassadors.

If passed and ratified, the amendment would establish a strict dual-track citizenship restriction, requiring federal lawmakers and officials to have held U.S. citizenship from birth.

In a statement announcing the joint resolution, Mace described the legislative push as a necessary measure to guarantee unwavering loyalty among top federal decision-makers, arguing that those responsible for writing laws, confirming judges, and representing the nation on the global stage must have a single allegiance to the United States.

 

Mace argued that the amendment simply extends the rigorous constitutional standard already required of the president to other critical positions of national trust. She justified the urgency of the restriction by citing specific instances of conflicting loyalties among certain foreign-born officials, pointing directly to the public statements and actions of representatives like Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)

 

 as evidence of why systemic safeguards are needed.

Ilhan Omar. Shri Thanedar. Pramila Jayapal. All born in foreign countries, none were citizens by birth. All sitting in the United States Congress. All making clear every single day their loyalty is not to America.

 

We just introduced a long overdue joint resolution proposing a… pic.twitter.com/jTTKyr5Sgb

— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) May 20, 2026

Mace argued further that the amendment is a long-overdue mechanism to close a security gap in the foundational text of the Constitution, emphasizing that anyone wielding federal authority should be a natural-born American.

 

The proposal, however, immediately drew criticism from naturalized lawmakers who viewed the amendment as a “betrayal of American values.” Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), who immigrated to the United States from India as an infant, released a statement denouncing the resolution, arguing that patriotism in America is measured by service and character rather than birthplace.

Meanwhile, the measure faces a high bar to clear before it can reshape the composition of the federal government. To successfully amend the U.S. Constitution, the joint resolution must first secure a two-thirds supermajority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, followed by ratification from three-fourths of all state legislatures.

If it accomplishes that threshold, the timeline outlined within the text specifies that the restrictions would apply to federal judges, ambassadors, and other Senate-confirmed officials exactly six months following final ratification, ending a centuries-old precedent that has allowed naturalized citizens to serve at nearly every tier of the federal framework.