“It seems that you are still confusing citizenship and natural born citizenship. The Constitution clearly states that no except a natural born citizen is eligible to be President”
No I am not confusing the two. I stated quite plainly that I agree that a natural born citizen is a person whose parents are both citizens, and who is born within the jurisdiction of the USA. I asked you some questions to make sure I understood how strictly you viewed the issue.
Also, I acknowledge that there are those who have questions about other situations which many people think are also NBC, and which the court has not addressed.
Some of their arguments have more merit than others, and since I am not a lawyer, or a judge, I can not even pretend to know what the Supreme Court would decide, should a case come before them. (After all I am still puzzling over how abortion can be considered constitutional).
There are a number of people on this site that think Gov Jindal is a NBC, and should run for president, and that is the only reason I asked what you thought about him.
In fact one of them told me I was wrong that only someone who had 2 citizen parents born on US soil (under the jurisdiction of the USA) is a NBC, because if that was true, then Jindal would be ineligible to run.
A hypothetical question for you: Suppose John Quincy Adams had been born in the US embassy, in France because his Father was the French Ambassador. Could he have been considered a NBC?
Embassies are after all, considered to be within the jurisdiction of their respective governments, hence some would argue that the US embassy in a foreign nation represents US soil, and you know, it is considered sovereign to the USA.
Should we ask citizens to serve their country overseas, often at great sacrifice, and deny their children NBC status? Many people would say no, if both parents are citizens of the USA, they should be NBC. A court might also rule that they are NBC, I don’t know.
Now I wish you would answer the other questions I asked you: Which Supreme Court rulings have stated that the term NBC for presidential eligibility was reserved EXCLUSIVELY for a person born of 2 citizen parents on US soil?
I would very much like to read them. You did state that their were many Supreme Court cases which used that definition. So what are they?
Which source did you use to determine that the “legal definition” of NBC is “those born in country of parents who are citizens.” I would like to be able to cite it in future debates on the issue.
Oh and a couple of other questions. Do you consider John McCain to be a Natural Born Citizen?(He was born in the Panama Canal Zone).
What about Barry Goldwater (I read somewhere that he was born in the Arizona Territory before it was a state, yet he did run for President).
Are you aware that the 1790 statute passed by Congress stated that children born out of the country to citizen parents are considered NBC? What do you think about that?
Don't be surprised at that - they were just mimicing English Law [25 Edw. III, Statute 1 - 1350], the statute of Anne [can't remember the cite - 1703?], and the British Nationality Act of 1730. They all considered children born beyond the realm to fathers who were natural born subjects to be natural born also.
Natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens.
Again, Gov. Jindal is Not a NBC-his parents were NOT US citizens at the time of his birth.
In regard to your hypothetical question concerning John Quincy Adams being born in a US Embassy in France-The US State Department guidelines on immigration 7 FAM 1116.1-4 states, “Despite widespread popular belief, U.S. military installations abroad and U.S.diplomatic or consular facilities are not part of the United States within the meaning of the 14th Amendment. A child born on the premises of such a facility is not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of birth.” This also applies to those that still insist that John McCain is a NBC.
You then ask, “Which Supreme Court rulings have stated that the term NBC for presidential eligibility was reserved EXCLUSIVELY for a person born of 2 citizen parents on US soil?” We don’t need a Supreme Court ruling-The US Constitution has already states, “No Person except a natural born Citizen... shall be eligible to the Office of President”.
Again, there are a number of Supreme Court rulings that state that “Natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens.” Everytime you find the phrase “Natural born citizen” mentioned in a Supreme Court ruling, you will find the above definition or a resonable paraphrase of it. You will never find that it was defined as anything but one born in our nation to citizen parents (plural-meaning BOTH parents must be US citizens).
John McCain is NOT a NBC-he was born in the city of Colon, Panama, outside of the Canal Zone, and he became a US citizen through the use of an immigration law (8 U.S.C. 1403) that was passed when he was 11 months old-a NBC would not have to appeal to an immigration law-immigration laws are for people born outside of our nation.
Barry Goldwater was born within the territory of the United States.
Yes I am aware that the 1790 statute passed by Congress stated that children born out of the country to citizen parents are considered NBC’s, and I am also aware that that law was repealed and replaced within 5 years by The Naturalization Act of 1795, which stated that the children born out of the country to citizen parents are considered citizens. The only place in the world that the child of US citizens be born, and legally be considered as a NBC is within the territory of the United States.