Posted on 01/15/2016 12:16:55 AM PST by BlackFemaleArmyColonel
Donald Trump defended his argument that his Republican presidential rival Sen. Ted Cruz should not be the GOP nominee because he was not born inside the U.S. by arguing that Democrats would mount a legal challenge to his eligibility for office.
"I am not bringing a suit, but the Democrats are going to be filing a lawsuit," Trump warned during Thursday's night's debate on Fox Business.
The Texas senator laughed off the argument, saying that there was no legal question that he was eligible. Noting that he was a constitutional lawyer who has argued cases before the Supreme Court, he said he was "not taking legal advice from Donald Trump."
However, Trump's claim that Democrats would mount a challenge regarding Cruz's eligibility is plausible. At least one, Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., has already said he would do exactly that. Other Democrats and liberal thought leaders appear to be warming to the idea.
"Technically, he's not even an American... The Constitution says natural-born Americans, so now we're counting Canadians as natural-born Americans? How does that work?" Grayson told radio host Alan Colmes in November. "I'm waiting for the moment that he gets the nomination and then I will file that beautiful lawsuit saying that he's unqualified for the job because he's ineligible."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Score Rubio +1 for this:
^When you talk about immigration. Ted Cruz, you used to say you supported doubling the number of green cards, now you say you’re against it. You used to support 500 percent increase in the number of guest workers, now against it. You used to support legalizing people here illegally. Now against it. You used to say you were in favor of birthright citizenship. Now you are against it. Not just on immigration, you used to support TPA, now you are against it. I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in Iowa. And last week we saw you flip the vote on Iowa for the same reason.
That is not consistent conservatism. That is political calculation.^
Not correct.
I was watching MSNBC - Lawrence Tribe was a guest of "tingles" Matthews.
He said - "Consider a Democrat State, such as Pennsylvania (my state). PA's Secretary of State is a Democrat.
He could refuse to put Cruz on the ballot stating his own opinion that Cruz is ineligible. Cruz would then have to sue Pennsylvania to become eligible, and the outcome of that suit is in no way easy to determine."
FReepers, Trump is right. Cruz has a problem.
I would far prefer Cruz to withdraw from this race, support Trump and go back and lead the Senate for the Conservative agenda.
After a few years, President Trump could (should) nominate Cruz for the Supreme Court when Ruth Bader Witchburg finally kicks the bucket.
I do not doubt at the rats will use every dirty trick in the books against Cruz. That is who they are.
Sadly, all said, if Cruz cannot beat Trump on this issue, how can he beat the rats and the full force of the media? And I donate to Cruz!
I am sincerely confused with your post: HE was (Trump?) born as a British citizen? How?
He inherited it as a matter of right from his British national mother.
My grandmother was English and naturalized as a US citizen before my mom was born, and so my mother had NO claim to British citizenship, as her mother had lost hers when she became a naturalized US citizen.
You may be wrong about that. Do you know whether or not your grandmother renounced her British Nationality directly to the British Home Office? No other renunciation, including any renunciation made to US officials is recognized by Britain.
Reference:
Renunciation and resumption of British nationality
All categories of British nationality can be renounced by a declaration made to the Home Secretary. A person ceases to be a British national on the date the Home Secretary registers the declaration of renunciation. If a declaration is registered in the expectation of acquiring another citizenship but one is not acquired within six months of the registration, it does not take effect and the person remains a British national.
Renunciations made to other authorities (such as the general renunciation made as part of the US naturalization ceremony) are not recognized by the UK.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_nationality_law
The UK doesn't grant dual citizenship in perpetuity, merely because you have British ancestors. When my grandmother and Trump's mother became US citizens, they gave up their rights to British citizenship. Their children also lost that claim.
Maybe. Maybe not. It all depends on whether your grandmother made a renunciation in a form and manner recognized by the British authorities.
If all she did was attend a swearing in ceremony in the US and sign renunciation papers here, they would have had no effect whatsoever in Britain.
As for whether British nationality might or might not have been bequeathed to you , I can't say. I simply don't know how many generations British law contemplates. It might depend on whether your mother is still alive. But you may very well have a British passport waiting for you for the asking.
I like Trump over Cruz (but certainly don't hate Cruz, and would happily vote for him), and I don't necessarily think that the ability to claim dual citizenship makes someone ineligible to run for president.
It would be very unfair to hold something against a US citizen that he has no control over and may not even realize.
That said: The BC I'd be interested in seeing is Ted Cruz's US birth certificate. When was that issued? Showing us his Canadian BC and his mom's US BC is all fine and good, but the real question would be when did Cruz become a US citizen officially? The ability to get it when he was born (living in Canada or not) would have happened when he was born, I suspect, but when did his parents apply for it?
I doubt you'll ever see a US Birth Certificate for Ted Cruz. He was born in Canada, as you know, so he has a Canadian birth certificate. Birth certificates are issued by the jurisdiction where a person is born and nowhere else. Ted Cruz officially became a US Citizen on the date of his birth, December 22, 1970. He was born a US citizen and no paperwork is necessary. Ted Cruz's parent(s) didn't need to apply for anything. He's not a naturalized citizen.
For the record, I have a son who is eligible for a dual citizenship, but we never applied for it. He has no legal claim to the second country unless I went through the process of getting the second country to acknowledge that he could get it if he made some effort. So, he isn't a dual citizen.
Normally citizenship by birth is granted by the operation of law and you don't need to apply for it. You might apply for a passport or a national registration card, but not for the citizenship itself. That's usually already there whether one asks for it or not. but I have no idea about this case as I don't know the circumstance or the country. every country is entitled to its own laws and procedures.
Countries don't waste their time chasing after babies who might have a claim to their citizenship, and send the papers in the mail to fill out, like credit card applications. If you want to get your citizenship from a country besides that which you were born in, you must make the effort to do it.
I understand what you are saying here, and to a degree I concur. But, when you say "If you want to get your citizenship from a country besides that which you were born in, you must make the effort to do it," you are not speaking accurately. In almost every case, you are not "getting your citizenship," you are getting your citizenship confirmed. Normally, the citizenship is already there.
Problems with dual citizenship normally don't arise unless the individual puts himself or herself into the foreign jurisdiction which may understand that it can make a claim against the person. Folks have been drafted into military service in this situation, and sometimes jailed as in the case of some American citizens claimed by Iran. If a dual citizen and problems are to be avoided, it's always best to renounce the citizenship according to the law of the claiming nation, if possible. Otherwise, stay out of their jurisdiction.
What are you scoring here? Fibbing?
Of course they will . . . they are hypocrites. They blocked every challenge to Obama’s eligibility but will take Cruz’s eligibility all the way to the supreme court.
There has to be some kind of documentation of his American citizenship. For things in the U.S. that require citizenship, what would he present? His mother’s birth certificate?
How did the Kenyan get elected?
Some of us here have been saying this all along..including that Cruz needs to try for a declaratory judgement.
A Vanderbilt child was a Duke and owned Blenheim palace. I WILL NEVER BELIEVE THE FOUNDING FATHERS WOULD WANT SOMEONE LIKE THAT TO RUN FOR POTUS nor an Arab Prince
What Trump said in September was and remains true. He said the legal experts came down on the side of Cruz being NBC. That was true then, and it is true now.
I thought Tribe said he was eligible in his opinion but it is not settled law.
The eligibility question is the same whether Cruz runs for president or VP.
I thought so too, but listening to his remarks on MSNBC a few times, I don't think he offered his opinion, other than saying it took a living constitution approach to find Cruz NBC. He (Tribe) has the same point of view you do, the outcome is unsettled.
I think the outcome is settled against Cruz, if SCOTUS follows the framework it used to argue the Bellei case.
This one is out of Texas....
Good. I hope this gets settled soon. Until then there's a cloud hanging over Cruz's head.
I was born to American missionary parents in Northen Rhodesia, now Zambia. I was issued a U.S. birth certificate, the year was 1960. Would be happy to scan it for someone who knows more about this than I. My parents told me that I automatically had dual citizenship because of place of birth, but would only have American citizenship at age 18 unless I declared otherwise. Dad is now gone and mom has dementia.
Interestingly, misplaced one copy of original - I have a second -when going through an International adoption process for our child ( was not returned by Homeland Security, although they admitted they had a copy of it !!! So suppose someone has it !!! ). Applied for a new BC, and was sent a new version signed by Condoleza Rice.
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