Ted Cruz for Supreme Court

Cruz might have some problems with his having shown his disregard for Supreme Court precedent and Constitutional interpretation. With only one Constitutional Conservative remaining on the court, according to Justice Scalia last year, when he said there were then only two originalists on the court, himself and Justice Thomas. A case to confirm Minor v. Happersett or reverse it might make Wahhabi Imams eligible to the presidency, but today there is no doubt, and dozens of cases citing Minor v. Happersett, including Wong Kim Ark and Perkins v. Elg that prove it, that the Supreme Court has precedent rendering Cruz ineligible, precedent which either party could use to force the selection of a president into Congress, Article II Section 1 clause 6.

Cruz told us the following unanimous decision didn't apply to him:

At common-law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives, or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners.

The citation is to the never-reversed case Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 163, (1875). Remember, or better, reade the decision, that the context of the statement above is the law before the passage of the 14th Amendment. Cruz, had he been born on U.S. soil, and subject to our jurisdiction, would have been naturalized at birth. But he wasn't born on our soil. It wasn't until 1934 that Congress passed a bill based upon the 14th Amendment to naturalize him because his mother was a citizen.

Cruz also intentionally misinterprets the 14th Amendment, a naturalization amendment built upon Article 1 Section 8, ...shall create an Uniform rule for Naturalization, whose author Congressman John Bingham explained to Congress in 1866:

I find no fault with the introductory clause [S 61 Bill], which is simply declaratory of what is written in the Constitution, that every human being born within the jurisdiction of the United States of parents not owing allegiance to any foreign sovereignty is, in the language of your Constitution itself, a natural born citizen….

Judge Bingham, in 1866, is confirming the Vattel, Hamilton, Washington, Paine, Marshall, Pufendorf, .... definition for who are natural born citizens, and pointing out that it was "never doubted". He is explaining that this is common law, not English Common Law, but American common law, defined in our first legal textbook, Vattel's law of Nations.

Ted Cruz, as his (and Obama's) constitutional law professor, Larry Tribe explained in the Boston Globe on Jan 11, argued the Minor v. Happersett, Wong Kim Ark, Perkins v. Elg, Washington, Hamilton, Paine, Jay, Marshall, position as a student. Now he takes the "Living Constitution" position, the opposite of originalism. His actions deny the validity of dozens of Supreme Court decisions. Larry, an honest "living Constitution" proponent told us that Ted is a hypocrite. He depends upon the ignorance, not just of the average citizen, but of a remarkable number of attorneys who never learned much about constitutional law. He is a liar who is pretending for expedience to be a conservative.

The Supreme Court has "original jurisdiction" for all cases including law and equity arising under the Constitution, Article II Section 2. Ted Cruz is violating the Constitution for which he claims to be a conservative originalist. At least Barack Obama never claimed to be a natural born citizen. He told us he was born a Subject of the British Commonwealth. Obama told us that he considered the Constitution an interesting historical artifact which needs a new bill of positive rights to become relevant. Barack was kept in the white house by a political power, perhaps arguing that Barack's color was more important than the Constitution, and that riots would result if the law were honored. Ted tells us that the 14th Amendment made him a natural born citizen at birth, a blatant lie. The 14th Amendment had never, and cannot make anyone a natural born citizen. It defines who are citizens using Article 1 Section 8, an "uniform rule for naturalization".

Words in the Constitution cannot be presumed to have no meaning. Cruz' interpretation would make the King of Jordan eligible, after 14 years residence, to be president. Ted counts upon confusion around the precision presumed by Supreme Court justices and by our framers.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.