Both of McCain’s parents were Americans. And, believe it or not, it is not actually settled at law that he was eligible to serve as President either. Had he won the election, this EXACT same challenged would have been made against him by the Left.
Which proves the point that the SCOTUS should bring some clarity to this area of the law, at the minimum by saying the Congress should.
As for Obama’s citizenship by descent, remember he had to have been a natural born citizen under the laws in effect at the time of his birth, which some argue made it necessary for him to attain citizenship by descent from his father-—which was impossible in this case.
Plus, we have never had a president whose parents were not Americans at the time of his birth. That may or may not make a difference. But that is the point: it may or may not, we don’t know, and this is the President and the Constiution we’re talking about here.
Surely McCain should be considered a natural born citizen even if he was born in Panama. It strikes me as silly to say someone is not a citizen at birth merely because their parents were outside the country at time of birth, especially if they were on official duties for the government, as McCains parents were. I find it hard to believe that anyone would argue McCain is ineligible because hes not a natural born citizen. In any case, thats a terrible reason to persist with a fight over Obamas citizenship status.
My understanding is that “natural born citizen” means “citizen at birth”. McCain surely passes this test. I think Obama does too, because his mother was a citizen at the time of his birth.
Certainly some clarity from the SCOTUS would be helpful here. All this discussion about where a person was born doesnt seem very relevant anyway (except in a legalistic sense). Whats really important is where a person grew up and spent most of their time. A person can be a natural born citizen, but what if they spent almost their entire life living elsewhere, say Iran, and dont know much about life in the US? Imagine this: POTUS is born in the US to citizen parents, who then moves to Iran, where the future POTUS lives until he is 35, at which time he runs for president and wins. But it OK because the constitution only requires that he be a “natural born citizen”.