Posted on 02/10/2016 1:55:32 PM PST by drewh
With Ted Cruz the victor of the first contest of the GOP nominating calendar, we can no longer avoid the question mischievously posed by Donald Trump: Is Cruz ineligible to be president? Cruz was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father. The Constitution says that only a “natural born citizen†can be president. Is Cruz a natural born citizen? (You may recall that before he attacked Cruz on this front, Trump spent months flogging a ludicrous version of this critique against President Obama, who was actually born in the United States, unlike Cruz.)
The words natural born citizen, and their original meaning at the time that this constitutional clause was crafted, go a long way to answering this question. In founding-era America, like today, a person could be a citizen by virtue of birth on American territory; a citizen by virtue of a statute that granted citizenship to him at birth; a “naturalized†citizen, meaning one who entered the country as an alien but later obtained citizenship via a process determined by law; and a foreigner.
A natural born citizen cannot be a foreigner. Foreigners are not citizens. A natural born citizen cannot be a person who was naturalized. Those people are not born citizens; they’re born aliens. Most important for the purposes of the Cruz question, a natural born citizen cannot be someone whose birth entitled him to citizenship because of a statute—in this case a statute that confers citizenship on a person born abroad to an American parent. In the 18th century, as now, the word natural meant “in the regular course of things.†Then, as now, almost all Americans obtained citizenship by birth in this country, not by birth to Americans abroad. The natural way to obtain citizenship, then, was (and is) by being born in this country. Because Cruz was not “natural bornâ€â€”not born in the United States—he is ineligible for the presidency, under the most plausible interpretation of the Constitution.
Neither is Thunderthighs or Burned Up Bernie!...I’ll take Ted any day.
Cruz name keeps getting centered in this discussion but do you leave out Rubio?
He was born in 1971 to two Cuban immigrants who came to America in 1956 and
were naturalized in 1976.
Or is Rubio a natural born citizen regardless of parentage citizenship because he
was born on US soil?
Reposted from Slate.
Written by a Soros puppet.
Well then he should choose Trump as VP so then Trump will be President.
Rubio is the son of green card holders. He is not a natural born citizen. Cruz is closer to that ideal.
Abdul Aziz, young and rich, born in Saudi Arabia, from an American mother and Saudi father is also NBC! So are thousands of people all over the world, born in foreign countries, to one American parent. Even the children left behind by American servicemen in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq are all eligible! Why not? Ted Cruz is leading the way!
The Illinois board of elections is not able to settle this matter.
Yes, the only pure constitutional conservative who has made his $3.5 million net worth in government service.
This is a non-starter. He has taken care of it by getting on the ballot. He is not going to sue himself...if he somehow did that then Trumpsters will say he didn't put forth a strong enough case against himself.
And yet, you and he are siding with Ginsburg’s side of the court when you say Cruz is eligible.
Post #46.
No, he isn’t, nor Jindal or Haley. That’s why the Republicans didn’t fight The Usurper.
They wanted to run ineligible candidates, too.
He is Canadian Cuban and p****y
Why are you saying this is from HotAir when it is really a reposted article from openly liberal, Slate: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/view_from_chicago/2016/02/trump_is_right_ted_cruz_is_not_eligible_to_be_president.html
I think it may be better for Trump if Cruz stays in for awhile longer.
From this link we can see he has to have a document called a Consular Report of Birth Abroad.
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=231093
It needs to be solved, because the Demorats will use whatever they can to stop him.
What? Teddy has been cashing government checks all his time in USA? How can that be? I thought he hates big government?
Ted Cruz to remain eligible based on most probable assumptions with regard to Supreme Court ruling
Arthur was born in Canada.
The GOPee will never let Trump get anywhere near the Presidency that way. Trump will have to win it outright. Then he needs to pick another outsider to run with him.
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