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.
Blah, blah, blah...
How about all the children left behind by American servicemen in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan etc?
Are they all also Natural Born Citizens?
I think it may be better for Trump if Cruz stays in for awhile longer.
No, Rubio is not eligible either. Neither was odinga. Neither is Cruz. Neither is Jindal.
Neither are the ever-how-many sub-human spawn born to American women who go to rut with the sub-human muslims, whether born here or in their Middle East cess-pools.
The founders were rightly concerned about foreign influence at the presidential level. This crop of globalist seem determined to end the USA, and they keep pushing candidates that are not eligible, who will further chip away at the US constitution.
How could they stop him?
Good answer! When you have no valid response, use the childish response!
They can only stop Trump if he doesn’t win. Ted Cruz owes his net worth to the financial establishment, so he will do what they tell him to do.
Reagan made quite a bit in government service. So what?
Neither was Obama.
And Trump owes his to his daddy so he will do what he says?
come one man...think for once...we are smarter than that on this forum.
I guess the shoe is on the other foot, and the media does not like it at all, ALL of their Arguments regarding the Muslim will be thrown right back in their faces over Cruz.
If you assess eligibility by what common law and early constitutional interpreters said about it, Ted Cruz is not eligible.
If you assess eligibility by really, really wishing really hard that your favourite candidate is eligible and getting mad at people who say otherwise, then of course Ted Cruz is eligible.
Wrong, the CRBA is not equivalent to a birth certificate. You are not required to have on.
Please research what documents are required to obtain a CRBA, you will find it is those documents that prove he is a US Citizen
Roger Calero got on the ballot in 2004 and 2008. But he was a green card holder and not even a citizen.
We badly need to clear up the definition of natural born citizen and put processes in place to keep ineligible people off of the ballot.
Roger Calero got on the ballot in 2004 and 2008. But he was a green card holder and not even a citizen.
We badly need to clear up the definition of natural born citizen and put processes in place to keep ineligible people off of the ballot.
the record says otherwise. and if he was, he lied about it in order to comply with article II , section I, clause 5.
Reagan made most of his money in movies in Hollywood.
Teddy has been living on government check all his life.
Although the eligibility of U.S. born citizens has been settled law for more than a century, there have been legitimate legal issues raised concerning those born outside of the country to U.S. citizens. From historical material and case law, it appears that the common understanding of the term “natural born” in England and in the American colonies in the 1700s included both the strict common law meaning as born in the territory (jus soli), as well as the statutory laws adopted in England since at least 1350, which included children born abroad to British fathers (jus sanguinis, the law of descent). Legal scholars in the field of citizenship have asserted that this common understanding and legal meaning in England and in the American colonies was incorporated into the usage and intent of the term in the U.S. Constitution to include those who are citizens at birth.
No he hasn’t. He’s worked at private law firms, been a university professor and more.
Article 1 Section 8 specifically enumerates Congress with the power to establish the rules of naturalization. That includes:
- who can never be naturalized
- who can be naturalized
- the process of that naturalization
- who is a citizen at birth and does not need to be naturalized (i.e. naturally born citizen)
Congress has expressed its authority in Title 8 section 1401 - Citizen at birth. Under sub section A of that code, anyone born within the jurisdiction of the US (jus soli per the 14th Amendment) is naturally born a citizen. Further under subsection G, Sen Cruz is naturally born a citizen via his mother’s citizenship.
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