Posted on 01/08/2013 2:51:45 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Alternate headline: “Liberals to discover strange new respect for ‘Natural Born’ Clause circa 2016/2020.”
The newly sworn-in Texas senator and rising Republican star was born in Canada, to a mother who was born in Delaware and Cuban father. That’s triggered a debate about whether he’s eligible for the nation’s highest office — nevermind that he’s been in Congress less than a week.
While there’s no legal precedent for Cruz’s situation, most constitutional scholars surveyed by POLITICO believe the 42-year-old tea party sensation would be OK. But there’s just enough gray area to stoke controversy, as Cruz learned during his campaign for Senate last year…
“Ted is a U.S. citizen by birth, having been born in Calgary to an American-born mother,” said Cruz spokesman Sean Rushton, who declined to elaborate on the matter, saying his boss is focused on his work ahead in the Senate…
“He’s a birthright citizen but his birthright citizenship derives from his parents, and the question is, does that fit with the definition of natural born citizen?” added University of Pennsylvania law professor Kermit Roosevelt. “I think it does.”
Why should the presidency uniquely be limited to natural-born citizens when other important government positions aren’t?(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
For over 2 centuries, we found plenty of applicants who were born IN America of American parents.
It all started when there was talk of changing things so Arnold could run.
Now, it seems many contenders have questionable parentage or birth location.
A citizen maybe, a NBC, not in my opinion.
For anyone interested the above linked article gives a lot of background info on Ted Cruz and his family.
I know of no amendments to Article II. Either we have a Constitution that means something or we throw in the trash can. As I understand it, the NBC requirement means born in the U.S. to two U.S. citizens. There is nothing irrational about the framers wanting to be extra careful when it came to the qualifications of the individual holding the highest office in the land. They wanted someone whose loyalty to Country would be beyond reproach, who was born to to U.S. citinzens and had spent a lifetime in this Country being nurtured in what it means to be a true American. If being born to two U.S. citizens was enough, could a guy who was born overseas to U.S. citizens and lived in the foreign country all his live qualify as an NBC citzen? Think about it?
Someone shows a modicum of leadership and folks start talking about making that person President.
The GOP should watch and learn.
All he has to do is show them a phony birth certificate from Hawaii if anyone asks.
No, Claire McCaskill, he isn’t.
ANY Senator that thinks about becoming President and actually runs for the office with the intention of winning, should immediately removed from office by reason of insanity and taken to the insane asylum until he comes to his senses!
Being a U.S. Senator is the best job in the entire known universe. There are only 100. They have vast power. It is almost impossible to unseat one. You only have to be re elected every six years. The pay is good and is supplemented by all the money you can steal and all the insider trading that you can handle. You can keep the job regardless of weather you show up or not and can keep it until death. In some instances like Robert Bird, several years after death. MOST people wouldn't know you from Adam and hose that do are mostly willing to pay you off for a favor.
All and all there is NO downside to being a Senator, unless you have to associate too often with Harry ‘the crypt keeper’ Reid or the Schmuck Schumer! As far as eligibility. Who cares, if O'Bumbler is qualified my foreign born dog could do the job. Probably more competently!
Good article. I bet Cruz could/would even produce his Princeton and Harvard transcripts, if need be.
Another cockroach in the DC swamp - Kermit Roosevelt
I know it doesn't! They would not have taken the trouble to designate only one citizen as "natural born" out of all the others listed if there was no difference between them.
John McCain was born of US citizen parents on a US military base, which is US territory and that makes him an NBC. This guy(Cruz) was born in Canada to ONE American citizen parent and therefore is NOT an NBC. Had he been born on American soil he would have been a Natural born Citizen regardless of how many citizen parents he had.
I was taught that eligibility is a simple concept, but apparently that's no longer the case. There are no shortage of opinions regarding who is and isn't eligible and why, including several from the courts, bottom to top.
We sure have learned how to complicate things, especially when we just need to twist them enough to get the "correct" answer we're looking for, whether from the Constitution, the Bible, or any other standard.
And a related question concerns who decides the issue. The courts don't seem to want to get involved and the Congress just rubber stamps the decisions of the electors. Maybe it's up to the electors to decide. Maybe it's up to the people to decide when they vote.
It's all become pretty crazy at times.
As soon as I read his birth background, I was sighing. He really seems like a remarkable man, and you sit up and listen when he is speaking. But his asset right now is to keep on doing what he is doing. We NEED people like him in the Congress NOW.
No
No
Not to belabor the concept of an “evolving constitution”, but in the time of the founders, the concept of casual travel to foreign countries was unknown. You didn’t “vacation in Europe”, so they didn’t really have to think about whether US parents might be off on a Russian cruise vacation and go into labor and have a kid in St Petersburg.
And they would NEVER have thought about a soldier and his wife being deployed long-term on foreign soil, and having a U.S. Citizen child on a military base in Germany.
Interestingly, because Embassies are considered “U.S. Soil”, a child born of U.S. citizens in an Embassy would be NBC, but if you drove them to the local hospital to have the kid, technically the kid isn’t NBC. Certainly THAT was not something the founders really considered.
The bigger issue is that the term “natural born Citizen”, at the time the constitution was written, was not a term of art.
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