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To: Non-Sequitur
Yet there is no legislation or Supreme Court decision that makes your statement true.

Of course there isn't. Legislation cannot (re)define the terms of the Constitution. The only situation where the Supreme Court would need to decide if someone was a natural born citizen, and thus define the term for Constitutional purposes, would be if a President, or President elect, were accussed of not being one, and the Court actually heard the case and made a decision. That has not happened.

However there are several court cases in which dicta indicates that "natural born citizen" requires parents who are citizens, and to have been born in the country (Perhaps with some exceptions for those born in the military or diplomatic corps).

85 posted on 02/22/2010 10:48:08 AM PST by El Gato ("The second amendment is the reset button of the US constitution"-Doug McKay)
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To: El Gato
Of course there isn't. Legislation cannot (re)define the terms of the Constitution.

But the Constitution does not define natural-born citizen so Congress could pass legislation laying out who is a natural-born citizen and who is not, and there would be nothing unconstitutional about it. Many people, myself included, believe that they do just that in 8 USC § 1401.

However there are several court cases in which dicta indicates that "natural born citizen" requires parents who are citizens, and to have been born in the country (Perhaps with some exceptions for those born in the military or diplomatic corps).

And as you know, obiter dictum are not binding under the doctrine of stare decisis.

86 posted on 02/22/2010 11:25:04 AM PST by Non-Sequitur
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