Why was Goldwater eligible and Romney not? Mind you, I have already agreed to that premise in this thread. I am just interested in the legal logic that has brought you to that conclusion. I am, less interested in the Chester Arthur debate as I find it has little to with the present dialectic surrounding Ted Cruz's eligibility.
“Why was Goldwater eligible and Romney not? Mind you, I have already agreed to that premise in this thread. I am just interested in the legal logic that has brought you to that conclusion. I am, less interested in the Chester Arthur debate as I find it has little to with the present dialectic surrounding Ted Cruz’s eligibility.”
Gaskell Romney allegedly renounced his U.S. citizenship due to the U.S. Government enforcing the law prohibiting Mormon polygamy, and he emigrated to the Mormon colony in Mexico. His father-in-law was responsible for the financial and political connections within the Mexican Government at Mexico City necessary to permit the establishment and maintenance of this Mormon colony. George Romney was born in Mexico. His parents allegedly chose U.S. citizenship for George and his siblings, but that claim appears to be quite dubious. First, George Romney could not acquire naturalized U.S. citizenship on the basis of his father’s citizenship, because his father renounced his U.S. citizenship before emigrating to Mexico. If you exclude the possibility Gaskell Romney renounced his citizenship and expatriated to become a citizen of Mexico, George Romney was still born abroad in Mexico, outside of U.S. jurisdiction. In that case, in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court statement that a child born abroad can acquire U.S. citizenship only by naturalization, any U.S. citizenship George Romeny was entitled could only be naturalized U.S. citizenship. Since naturalized U.S. citizens are not natural born citizens of the United States, George Romney was an ineligible naturalized U.S. citizen.
The eligibility of Barry Goldwater to be President of the United States was challenged on the basis of the claim he was born in the Territory of Arizona, instead of one of the United States. This challenge was false, due to the fact the U.S. Supreme Court in a number of cases, including the Slaughterhouse cases, determined any person born within the jurisdiction of the United States and its incorporated territories, etc. with two U.S. citizen parents was in fact a U.S. citizen under the Federal Government for Constitutional purposes. Thusly, Arizona born Barry Goldwater was a natural born citizen of the United States with two U.S. citizen parents.