A legal reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment that would deny birthright citizenship to offspring of illegal immigrants is an idea gaining momentum among top Senate Republicans, and is being utilized as a political tool on an electoral year.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham who in the past has expressed support for immigration overhaul, has also voiced intentions to introduce a constitutional amendment seeking to deny citizenship rights to the so called “anchor babies,” while Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Arizona’s senators, John McCain and Jon Kyl, asked this week for congressional hearings on the topic.

Under the 14th Amendment, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” A legal precedent about what determines United States citizenship was set in 1898 when a U.S. Supreme Court confirmed in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that “a child born in the United States of parents of foreign descent […] becomes a citizen of the United States at the time of birth.”

However, those opposing the legalization of about 11 million illegal immigrants already living in the U.S., have even looked into the possibility of stripping citizenship from children of the undocumented. Arguments as the status of Native Americans in the 1800s are often used to explain why the fact of being born in the U.S. shouldn’t guarantee citizenship.

“In the 1884 case Elk v. Wilkins, the Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment did not even confer citizenship on Indians — because they were subject to tribal jurisdiction, not U.S. jurisdiction,” wrote political columnist Ann Coulter this week on Human Events, a right wing outlet.

Although the exclusion of Native Americans from citizenship was eventually eliminated by the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, opponents of any sort of amnesty or legalization, continue to use this and other arguments to give a different interpretation of the 14th Amendment, and state their point.

In the history of the United States, only 17 amendments have been ratified in addition to the original 10 amendments that were ratified in the Bill of Rights. That is, 234 years of existence as a nation and it’s been nearly 20 years since the last amendment was enacted.

But Rep. Graham believes it is worth the trouble to repeal the 14th Amendment, as he considers that “birthright citizenship” is a mistake. In a recent interview with Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, Graham explained:

“We should change our Constitution and say if you come here illegally and you have a child, that child’s automatically not a citizen…

“People come here to have babies…They come here to drop a child. It’s called ‘drop and leave.’ To have a child in America, they cross the border, they go to the emergency room, have a child, and that child’s automatically an American citizen. That shouldn’t be the case. That attracts people here for all the wrong reasons.”

Former congressman and potential Colorado gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo is another advocate for this cause and has made repeal of the 14th Amendment a mission. Some say it’s just about impacting the November election.

But other seven attempts to either repeal or reinterpret the 14th Amendment’s definition of citizenship led by Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-CA) have failed. Most recently, Bilbray backed the Taxpayer Revolution’s “Anchor Baby” reform initiative (California Taxpayer Protection Act of 2010,) which sought to limit the rights and benefits of the U.S. citizen children of undocumented immigrants by redefining the 14th Amendment’s jurisdiction. It would basically deny a standard birth certificate to American-born children of undocumented immigrants and would instead grant a “Foreign Parent” certificate.

Another prominent GOP member teaming up toward a potential initiative that would revoke the constitutional amendment is the author of the controversial Senate Bill 1070, Russell Pearce.

“Blame the parents,” stated Pearce, in an interview with POLITICO. “They’re breaking the law, and you can’t reward them,” said the publication on Wednesday.

Pierce declared he would write legislation to deny birth certificates to the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.

“This is an orchestrated effort by them [illegal immigrants] to come here and have children to gain access to the great welfare state we’ve created,” Pearce said at the beginning of June to Time magazine. He also plans to introduce an initiative next year, requiring undocumented parents to pay for their children attending public schools.

Encouraged by the notoriety gained through the controversial, yet popular SB 1070, Pearce is focused on winning the Senate presidency, a strategic position to control which bills are moved to the floor. A lot of power. But on an electoral year, is all about politics.