[arthurus]

I believe the USA is the only nation with birthright citizenship and it is by legislation, not Constitution.

[Boogieman]

I don’t think any other countries actually use the “natural born” qualification, it seems to be something unique to the United States. There were similar types of citizenship in the past, at least in Britain, but they were called “native subjects” or something like that, and it was based on the nationality of their father.

More importantly though, whether another country designates someone as a citizen, of any variety, has absolutely no impact on their citizenship status in the United States. We are a sovereign country, and citizenship here is based on our laws alone, without being influenced by the laws of other countries.

For example, I have a friend whose grandmother was from Ireland, and due to Irish law, he can claim Irish citizenship. That doesn’t mean he loses his American citizenship, just because Ireland passed a law which considers him a citizen of their country. Our laws determine his citizenship status here, and the Irish laws are irrelevant to the question because they carry no weight in our territory.

[TexasCajun]

So far, both Iowa and N.H. have qualified both Cruz & Rubio without challenge.

Other states are following.

From Who & When will that legal challenge come?

[jstaff]

Keep stirrin’ that pot, Yo!

[Bringbackthedraft]

If two American citizens are living in, say, Germany when their child is born; does that automatically make the child a German citizen? ................................. Are the parents of German ancestry? If they are they too are considered German Citizens, at least that was OK in 1936, maybe not today. If one was American and the other was German it would be a case of dual citizenship there. If the child was born in a US Post or Hospital to Americans, they would be considered American. My memory of that era has faded a bit, so they may have changed things.

[bigbob]

This is unique to US law as far as I’ve seen. If Cruz becomes the nominee, the DNC will file suit in federal court challenging it and they your question will be answered.

An adage amongst lawyers is “never ask a question you don’t already know the answer to”, so the DNC will not want to push this unless they have to, because as long as it remains undefined by a court, they might be able to use it to their advantage at some future time.

And make no mistake, the GOPe will be covertly supporting such a challenge, just not publicly. It is their clearest means of taking out Cruz if it comes to that.

[usurper]

There are to ways a person becomes a citizen at birth.

Jus Soli: The law of place, meaning the child was born in the US or its territories.

Jus Sanguinis: The law of blood, meaning one or more of the parents is a US citizen and has met the residence requirements to pass on citizenship.

These are long standing and well established in law.

Does that automatically make the child a German citizen?

German law determines that and has no bearing on US citizenship.

[iontheball]

It may be an interesting question, but whatever we think doesn’t matter. Everything that could be said has been said already, ad nauseum. Only, and I say again, only a Federal Court has the jurisdictional authority to address and decide the question. That decision would be appealed and ultimately decided by the Supreme Court.

[Andy'smom]

A friend of mine was born in Germany when her father was serving in the US army. They moved home when she was a toddler. At 18, she received a letter from the German government offering her citizenship as she was born there.

[katana]

To answer your question about citizenship of children born overseas to American parents, our daughters were born in Belgium but their births were registered with the American Embassy within days. They have consular birth certificates and had their own passports for their first trip home at age seven months. I believe they would qualify as natural born American citizens as both their parents were and are the same. Under Belgian law they had the right to claim citizenship after reaching age sixteen. German law is probably similar. It seems that under Canadian law Cruz was considered a citizen, something he said he was unaware of and formally renounced when he found out.

On the basis of his political outlook on the Constitution and limited Federal authority (10th amendment) and demonstrated willingness to throw sand in the gears of the Obama Quisling Republican combine Cruz is my preferred candidate. If it is decided at some point by a court or the electors of the Electoral College that he is not qualified I'd find that regrettable, but he remains the person I'd most trust to restore government to its proper role and to nominate the next two to four appointees to the US Supreme Court. I like a lot of what Donald Trump says but I do not trust that he would carry through on any of it. That is my honest assessment of the man but I'm not going to call anyone stupid whose opinion and preference differs.

[Nea Wood]

If you’re a Cruz supporter, then being born on foreign soil to one American citizen makes you a natural born citizen. If you’re not a Cruz supporter, it doesn’t.

If you’re a Rubio supporter, being born on American soil is all that’s needed to be a natural born citizen. If you’re not a Rubio supporter, it isn’t.

That seems to be the bottom line around here.