I think the fact that there could have been at least one newly freed slave who was the child of a first generation US slave (and therefore would have been ineligible for birthright citizenship by Sauer’s logic) makes Barrett’s point salient though. Sauer argues that the whole (and only) point of the 14th amendment was to grant African American slaves citizenship, but if you can find an African American slave who (all other things being equal) would not have been able to benefit from the citizenship granted by the amendment according to Sauer’s interpretation, then his argument has a massive hole in it.
I think the fact that there could have been at least one newly freed slave who was the child of a first generation US slave (and therefore would have been ineligible for birthright citizenship by Sauer’s logic) makes Barrett’s point salient though. Sauer argues that the whole (and only) point of the 14th amendment was to grant African American slaves citizenship, but if you can find an African American slave who (all other things being equal) would not have been able to benefit from the citizenship granted by the amendment according to Sauer’s interpretation, then his argument has a massive hole in it.