Posted on 01/12/2016 8:00:15 AM PST by TangoLimaSierra
MASON CITY, IOWA -- Thanks to Donald Trump, the Ted Cruz birther issue emerged this week on the edges of the presidential campaign. Cruz, born in Canada to an American citizen mother and a Cuban father, is an American citizen by birth, according to U.S. law. But Trump suggested there might be a question of whether Cruz meets the constitutional requirement that the president be a "natural born citizen," and that the issue could be tied up in litigation, thus creating a problem for Republicans if Cruz were to be the party's nominee.
At a town hall in Mason City Friday morning, an audience member asked Cruz about the issue. The woman, Shawna Crabb of Ventura, Iowa, said she believes Cruz is eligible but that she just wanted to hear Cruz, a lawyer who has argued before the Supreme Court, explain it himself. Here is what Cruz said:
Sure, I'm happy to. The law is straightforward on this. Under the Constitution, in order to be president, you must be a natural born citizen. Now, U.S. law has been clear from the very first days of this country that the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural born citizen. Indeed, the very first Congress, when it passed the first laws on citizenship, defined the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad as a natural born citizen. They used exactly those words. Now mind you, many members of the first Congress were themselves Framers who had been at the constitutional convention who had used the exact same words in the Constitution.
This is an issue that has come up many times in American history. For example, many of us know John McCain was born in Panama. But he was a U.S. citizen because both of his parents were U.S. citizens. He was a citizen by birth. Likewise, George Romney, Mitt's dad, who ran for president in '68, was born in Mexico. His parents were Mormon missionaries, and yet he was a U.S. citizen by birth because his parents were citizens. And the third example, interestingly enough, is Barry Goldwater. Goldwater was born in Arizona before Arizona was a state, it was just a territory. And so he was a U.S. citizen by birth by virtue of the fact that his parents were citizens.
And so as a legal matter, the question is quite straightforward. My mother was born in Wilmington, Delaware. She is a citizen by birth, so I became an American citizen by virtue of being born to her. I have never breathed a breath of air on this planet when I was not a U.S. citizen. I've never been naturalized. It was the process of being born that made me a U.S. citizen.
Cruz went on to attribute the appearance of the question to his political opponents. But on the core issue, Cruz's fellow legal experts agree with him that being a citizen by birth is the equivalent of the Constitution's "natural born citizen." It's not clear whether his explanation will stop the questions, but Cruz has now said pretty much everything that can be said on the matter.
According to you, the Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan, whose mother is a U.S. citizen, is eligible to be President of the U.S.
THAT is not what our nations founders wanted, not at all.
It's getting dirty.
not so much for the current POSOTUS, assuming he was born in Hawaii
“Sadly, “ these falsehoods will be accepted without critical thinking. Senator Cruz has misquoted, misstated, and misrepresented the Constitution’s natural born citizen clause in many ways throughout his comments. How many can you recognize?
Does the Crown Prince’s mom meet the requirement of...
“U.S. citizen parent was physically present in United States or its outlying possessions for at least 5 years (2 after age 14) prior to child’s birth​”
“Child of a US citizen”...
That statement conflicts with an earlier statement he made when asked the definition of NBC. He stated “two citizen parents and born on US soil”. It was posted yesterday..GOP Texas State Committee member, March 29, 2015, (News with Views). He is about to be very embarrassed.
If Ted thinks this is dirty, he should drop out now. This is nothing in the realm of politics. Wait till the Democrats put their full court press on. This actually may help Cruz in the long run. He’s being looked at more and more now. Trump knows there’s no such thing as “bad” publicity.
I am still waiting for someone to unearth the plot that Ted Cruz is really part of a plot to subjugate us all as to the rule of Canada.
After all being taken over by foreign powers on the sly was why the Founders added it.
He wouldn't by chance be a lawyer, would he?
I think if nothing else we can be proud that the Constitution is alive and well on FR and debated just as hotly as it was in 1787.
And what Cruz forgot to say is that the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1790 only conferred NBC citizenship to children through their father, not mothers. That is the only act of Congress to ever use the words NBC and it has since been repealed. Citizenship through a female parent was not passed by Congress until 1934. Ted is the Monty Hall of candidates. Pick your door. Behind door number one is Canadian citizenship. Door number two is Cuban citizenship and door number three is U.S citizenship. Take your pick. And while Ted is at it, he can produce his Consular Record of Birth which would be the legal mechanism for proving his citizenship status. My guess is that he doesn’t have it otherwise he’d produce it.
A CRBA is not required.
This presentation is plausible, has enough detail, is endorsed and used by celebrity legal scholars including 100% of the conservative talk show hosts (Levin, etc.), is endorsed by the chairwoman of the DNC, and comes from a person who, if they feared being rejected because of being unqualified, wouldn't subject themselves to the rigors of politicking for the office.
With that weight and volume behind it, very few people will stumble onto the fact that the conclusion is false as a matter of constitutional law.
Even though Cruz is bluffing his way through this issue, he is perfectly secure against being exposed. He can bluff his way through this, to the very end. The GOP has certified that he is qualified. No court will reverse that. Congress will seat him, if he becomes president-elect. None of the celebrity legal scholars or talk show will reverse course, that means a loss of face. There is so much investment in this legal-falsehood, that it is too big to fail.
And that, people, is how constitutional law works.
You want to make the argument before the SC that only a father and not a mother can confer NBC.
Good luck with that.
Thanks for posting. That is what everyone is not mentioning...including Cruz....or so it seems.
Lisa Halaby attended National Cathedral School from fourth to eighth grade. She briefly attended The Chapin School in New York City, then went on to graduate from Concord Academy in Massachusetts. She entered Princeton University with its first coeducational freshman class, and received a BA in architecture and urban planning in 1973.[6] At Princeton she was also a member of the school’s first women’s ice hockey team.[7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Noor_of_Jordan
So the answer is YES. Using the Cruz NBC standard, all the Prince has to do is complete the 14 year residency requirement.
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